An integrative review of gift‐giving research in consumer behavior and marketing

Abstract

In recent decades, scholars across all areas of marketing have studied consumer gift-giving behavior. Despite the growing popularity of this research topic, no extensive review of the gift-giving literature exists. To that end, this paper offers an expansive review of research on consumer gift-giving, focusing primarily on work coming from within the marketing discipline, but also drawing on foundational pieces from other fields. We review extant scholarship on five of gift-giving's most important aspects-givers' motivations, givers' inputs, giver-recipient mismatches, value creation/reduction, and the greater gift-giving context. In doing so, we illuminate the literature's key agreements and disagreements, shed light on themes that traverse ostensibly disparate gift-giving findings, and develop deeper conceptualizations of gifting constructs. Moreover, we identify opportunities for improvement in the gift-giving literature and use them to create key agendas for future gift-giving research. In sum, this paper offers a single point of reference for gift-giving scholars, improves academia's current understanding of gift-giving, offers several theoretical contributions, and generates multiple paths for future research.

Givers eschew gifts that are inferior to their own: How social norms, regulatory focus, and concerns about offending lead givers astray

“…Our work also contributes to the gift giving literature by further illuminating the important role that social norms can play in gift giving (Caplow, 1984;Goodwin et al, 1990) and in giver-recipient gift choice discrepancies (Givi & Galak, 2022;Kupor et al, 2017;Teigen et al, 2005). Consistent with other research, we find that givers are more attentive to social norms than are recipients.…”

“…A prevention‐focus should lead givers to be more attentive than recipients to the social norm against consumers giving gifts that are inferior versions of their own products. Indeed, research demonstrates both that a prevention‐focus leads to heightened sensitivity to social norms (Lanaj et al, 2012) and that givers are more concerned about norms than are recipients (Givi & Galak, 2022; Teigen et al, 2005). Critically, a large part of the reason the norm emerges in the first place is that giving a gift that is an inferior version of a giver's product could offend the recipient.…”

A terrible beauty is burned: gifts, sacrifice and community in Northern Ireland

“…While insightful in its own right, the consumer psychology literature in gift giving (e.g. Septianto et al, 2020;Givi et al, 2022) is largely silent on the topic of sacrifice. Even in imagining "the impossibility of the capture of the gift in actuality, sacrifice [.…”

“…While insightful in its own right, the consumer psychology literature in gift giving (e.g. Septianto et al , 2020; Givi et al , 2022) is largely silent on the topic of sacrifice. Even in imagining “the impossibility of the capture of the gift in actuality, sacrifice […] enables the gift to live on beyond any instantiation thereof; what enables the eternal return of its promise” (Moore, 2011, p. 29).…”

Exploring the recipients' attitudes and behaviors toward gift-giving: a cross-cultural comparison between Thailand and the USA

“…Gift-giving process from the recipient's perspective Sherry's (1983) model divided gift-giving process into three stages: (1) gift search and purchase (gestation), (2) actual exchange (prestation) and (3) gift disposition and the realignment of the relationship (reformulation). To date, there is still a lack of research that offers a complete picture of the recipient's perspective in the whole gift-giving process (Givi et al, 2021), especially across cultures. Therefore, our research aims to explore the cultural differences in the Sherry's (1983) gift-giving model from gestation to reformulation stages as followed.…”