Abstract
BACKGROUND: China is actively responding to low birth rates by developing childcare institutions to alleviate the parenting pressures on families. However, despite strong childcare demand, the enrollment rate remains low. Few studies have explored the role of social influence in parents' childcare decisions. Therefore, this study will construct a research model to explore the mechanisms of social influence on parents' intentions to use childcare institutions. METHODS: This study used parents of infants and toddlers in mainland China as the study population. Questionnaires were collected through electronic surveys created on a professional website, with 554 responses gathered through purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA). RESULTS: The results indicate that perceived benefits are the significant driving variable for parents' intention to use childcare institutions, while price sensitivity and perceived risk are significant barriers. Normative influence and perceived childcare policy significantly affect perceived benefits and price sensitivity, while informational influence has a significant positive effect on perceived risk. Additionally, the Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) shows that improvements should focus more on price sensitivity given the current low performance. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide insights for childcare policymakers and institutional childcare managers and will generate a management basis for developing China's childcare service industry.