How sharenting drives sherub marketing: insights from an interpretative phenomenological perspective

Purpose The present study investigates the antecedents of sharenting, underlying strategies to mitigate the privacy risks of sharing children's personally identifiable information (PII) and majorly explores the relationship between sharenting activities of the parents and their buying behaviour. The study corroborates the previous studies in an advanced manner and adds a new construct “ sherub marketing ” as an effective marketing tool to impact the buying decisions of the parents. Design/methodology/approach Following interpretative phenomenological analysis, semi-structured personal interviews were conducted towards actively engaged parents on social media. For inferential analysis, responses of 23 parents were analysed with the help of theoretical thematic analysis Findings The findings uncover the multifaceted reasons persisting behind sharenting activities of the parents and observe a strong relationship between sharenting and buying behaviour of parents. The study results into exploration of sherub marketing as an effective marketing tool to influence the actions of the sharenters. Practical implications The study will be of use to both the practitioners and the society as a whole as it indicates the ramification of parental sharing and the role of marketers in influencing the purchasing decisions of the sharenters. Originality/value The present study is a novice and untapped area in the literature of interactive marketing and sheds light on sherub marketing as an effective marketing strategy.