A study of Japanese consumers' cognitive hierarchies in formal and informal gift‐giving situations

To date, the marketing literature on gift giving has focused on two approaches or paradigms-economic and relational exchange. This study adopts a different perspective, proposing a community paradigm to provide a holistic view of gift giving. The data (based on 20 in-depth interviews and 2 group interviews) suggest that, on the Internet, social networks of relationships cohere into gift-giving communities that influence the purchasing of gifts. A gift is defined as an exchange in which the transfer of goods or services that, although regarded as voluntary by those involved, is part of cultural and social behavior (Belk, 1976). Gift exchange is a social activity confirming relationships and social interactions. Here, a holistic perspective of the evolution of the gift-giving literature within the field of marketing is presented, outlining three distinctive paradigms. The first paradigm evolves from an economic exchange model, describing the transfer of goods. The second paradigm introduces a relational model, explor-

Section: Combining the Paradigms From A Theoretical And Managerial Pementioning

confidence: 79%

Gift giving: A community paradigm

Hollenbeck¹,

Peters

Zinkhan³

2006

“…More recently, other researchers have confirmed this hierarchical nature of the consumer decision-making processes in the context of various product and/or consumption settings (e.g., Lotz, Shim, & Gehrt, 2003;Shim & Eastlick, 1998). However, the strength of the values-attitude-behavior relationship is said to be stronger (a) when attitudes serve as a value-expressive function, as opposed to a utilitarian function (Maio & Olson, 1994), and (b) the behavior in question is principle-driven or socially desirable (Shrum & McCarty, 1997), or morally driven (Gorsuch & Ortberg, 1983), as opposed to driven by individual preferences in the marketplace.…”

Section: Personal Values Attitude and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 83%

A cognitive and behavioral hierarchical decision‐making model of college students' alcohol consumption

Shim

Maggs

2005

Self Cite

This study examined college students' drinking behaviors from a consumer behavioral perspective. A consumer-oriented, cognitive, and behavioral-hierarchical decision-making model was developed and tested with the use of structural equation modeling. Questionnaires were collected from undergraduate students (n ‫؍‬ 269) attending a large state university in the southwestern United States. Results indicated that personal values can serve as significant predictors of the attitudes college students have toward alcohol use, which in turn can predict intentions to drink. Results also indicated that intentions to drink are strongly related to actual alcohol consumption, and that gender-predicted attitudes and alcohol use during the past month influences intentions to drink. However, the structure of the model was similar after controlling for gender differences in alcohol use and for the stability of past behavior. The model delineated the specific roles played by personal values (self-actualizing values vs. social-hedonic values) and attitudes toward the physical and psychological consequences of drinking. Overall, social-hedonic values and psychological consequences predicted actual alcohol consumption far better than did self-actualizing values and physical consequences,

“…2) wrote "The only gift is a portion of thyself." At that time, gift-giving research was mostly interpersonal (giving to others) and it remains that way (Heath et al, 2011) with recent studies considering interpersonal gifting in business (Bodur & Grohmann, 2005), in romantic relationships (Schiffman & Cohn, 2009), in different cultures (Kimel, Grossmann, & Kitayama, 2012;Lotz, Shim, & Gehrt, 2003), for pets (Tesfom & Birch, 2010), and miscellaneous extensions of interpersonal gifting (Babin et al, 2007;Moreau, Bonney, & Herd, 2011). Even with this interpersonal emphasis, self-gifting has become a relevant though understudied aspect of the gifting literature (Heath et al, 2011;Ward & Tran, 2008).…”

Section: Self Versus Interpersonal Gift (Ig) Givingmentioning

confidence: 92%

Impact of Giving on Self and Impact of Self on Giving

Weisfeld‐Spolter

Rippé

Gould

2014

Recent research suggests that consumers are spending billions of dollars in interpersonal and self-gifting and yet, there is limited research regarding the giver's role of self and how this influences the choice of gift. Because self is so intertwined in both types of giving, the research reported here explores if different dimensions of the malleable self will be activated in various gift-giving contexts, depending upon the receiver and the occasion of the gift. Testing a conceptual model that for the first time combines both types of giving, this research uses three studies to explore how the gift-giving context can act as a situational cue and make accessible a particular view of the self, namely the giver's gender identity and self-construal to motivate choice of gift. Results suggest a new paradigm for considering consumer gift behavior and have theoretical and practical implications for advertising, selling, and other marketing contexts.