Abstract
The purpose of this study waw to investigate the effect of consumer knowledge of adolescents, money attitudes and consumption values on rational consumption behavior and the direct and indirect effects of these variables on rational consumption behavior. The subjects of this study were 524 students who were in the first grade and second grade of high school in Daegu. Multiple Regression Analysis and Path Analysis were employed for the data analysis. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the knowledge of money management, the purchase knowledge and the consumerism knowledge effected on the money attitude, which regarded money as an instrument of future safety. Among these, it was found that the money management knowledge had the highest affect on this money attitude. The result suggests that the consumer knowledge affects desirable money attitude which regarded money as an instrument of future safety, and then consumer education influences positively money attitude. Second, the money attitude which regarded money as an instrument of future safety affected consumption values most, and the money attitude which regarded money as a means for approval of another person affected the ostentation, the conformity, the discrimination and the aesthetic enjoyment of consumption values. Third, the present study showed that the money attitude which regards money as an instrument of future safety and the economical consumption values were the important factor which affecting each subdimension of the rational consumption behavior. The result suggests the adolescents, who managed money well, saved it for the future, and saved the resources as much as possible when consuming, behaved rational and planned way through all process all process all consumption behaviors. Fourth, the consumer knowledge did not affect the rational consumption behavior directly, but indirectly through the money attitude and the consumption values. Therefore, the consumer knowledge, the money attitude and the consumption values were the important factor for the rational consumption behavior, and it revealed money attitude and consumption values played role as mediate variable. This study results suggest the consumer knowledge that adolescent have learned in school was theoretical and abstract, so it does not affect directly the rational consumption behavior. However these consumer consumption values affect the consumption behavior.
