The ‘perfect gift’ and the ‘best gift ever’: An integrative framework for truly special gifts

Branco-Illodo, Ines; Heath, Teresa

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.012

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Bradford and Sherry (2017) described the sacrificial destruction and consumption of rival mascots in the context of collegiate tailgating rites, but neither interpreted them within a gift giving framework. Branco-Illodo and Heath (2020, p. 423) included sacrifice as a dimension of the “truly special gift,” an apparently dyadic phenomenon, but did not examine ritual practices contributing to such exalted categorization. Thus, the imbrication of gift and sacrifice, though widely recognized, has not been adequately described, analyzed or theorized to date.…”

Section: Consumer Research On Sacrificementioning

confidence: 99%

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

Downey

Sherry

2023

QMR

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Purpose Sacrifice, integral to gift giving, remains unexplored and undertheorized in marketing. This paper aims to address this shortfall by analyzing the dynamics of sacrifice and theorizing how it serves as an engine of the gift chimney. Design/methodology/approach The ethnographic investigation of public ceremonial gift giving in sectarian Northern Ireland describes and interprets the complex nature of the gift. Findings The authors show that sacrifice is a plausible mechanism of the gift chimney and that the co-occurrence of monadic, dyadic and systemic giving in the same ritual acts as an accelerant. Social implications The authors analyze how public ceremonial gift giving induces sectarian communities to risk convocation, enabling them to exorcize trauma sustained at one another’s hands and to build a platform for future cross-community cohesion in a context of ineffective institutional efforts. Originality/value Sacrifice propels circulation of the gift, creating a social bond between antagonists whose ethos of mutuality depends upon ritualized reciprocal recognition of entangled loss.

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Section: Consumer Research On Sacrificementioning

confidence: 99%

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

Downey

Sherry

2023

QMR

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“…Needless to say, the custom of gift giving generates a great deal of revenue for retailers. In part because of its vast economic ramifications, gift giving has received a great deal of attention from consumer researchers in recent years (Branco-Illodo et al , 2020; Branco-Illodo and Heath, 2020; Clarke, 2008; Das et al , 2021; Ganesh-Pillai and Krishnakumar, 2019; Gunasti and Baskin, 2018; Hwang and Chu, 2019; Vanhamme et al , 2021). However, it is important to continue improving our collective understanding of gift giving, as limitations remain in what the field currently knows about this fascinating consumption behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spending the most on those who need it the least: gift givers buy more expensive gifts for affluent recipients

Reshadi

Givi

2022

EJM

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Purpose This study aims to add to the gift giving literature by examining how the wealth of a recipient impacts giver spending. The authors tested the hypotheses that givers spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients, partially because givers anticipate a greater difference in gift-liking across expensive and cheap gifts when the recipient is wealthy, and partially because givers are more motivated to signal that they are of high financial status when the recipient is wealthy. The authors also tested whether givers’ tendency to spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients attenuates when the recipient is someone with whom the giver has a negative (vs positive) relationship. Design/methodology/approach Eight experimental studies tested the hypotheses. These studies had participants act as givers, consider giving a gift to either a wealthy or unwealthy recipient and indicate how much money they would spend on the gift. Some studies included additional measures to test potential mediators, while another included an additional manipulation to test a potential boundary condition. Findings Gift givers spend more on gifts for wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients, for two main reasons. On the one hand, givers are influenced by an other-oriented motive – they wish for their gift to be well-liked by the recipient and anticipate a greater difference in recipient gift-liking across expensive and cheap gifts when the recipient is wealthy. On the other hand, givers are influenced by a self-oriented motive – they wish to signal to the recipient that they are of high financial status, but this desire is stronger when the recipient is wealthy. Critically, givers are relatively unlikely to spend more on wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients when they have a negative (vs positive) relationship with the recipient. Research limitations/implications The authors studied how the wealth of the gift recipient influences givers’ gift expenditure, but they did not examine the recipient’s perspective. Future research could address this by exploring whether recipients’ gift preferences vary based on their wealth. Practical implications Gift purchases account for a significant portion of worldwide consumer spending, making gift giving an important topic for consumers and marketers alike. The present research sheds light on a factor that has a notable impact on how much consumers spend on a gift when faced with a gift giving decision. Originality/value This manuscript contributes to the gift giving literature by exploring an important aspect that influences consumer gift expenditure (the wealth of the recipient), demonstrating a novel gift giving phenomenon [that givers spend more when giving to relatively wealthy (vs unwealthy) recipients], and shedding new light on the psychology of consumers in gift giving contexts (namely, how givers’ perceptions of recipient gift-liking, their desire to send signals of high financial status and their relationship with the recipient can influence their gifting decisions).

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“…The topic of gift-giving has recently received increasing attention from marketing scholars. This is for many good reasons: gift-giving has social and well-being implications for consumers (Branco-Illodo and Heath, 2020; Ruth et al , 1999), economic implications for firms (DiChristopher, 2015; National Retail Federation, 2021) and theoretical implications for the field’s understanding of consumer psychology (Galak et al , 2016). Regarding the latter, an interesting revelation that has emerged, thanks to the scientific study of gift-giving, is that gift-givers sometimes intentionally avoid choosing the gifts that they believe recipients desire the most.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Your gift, but my attitude: gift-givers’ aversion to attitude-inconsistent gifts

Givi

2022

EJM

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Purpose Gift-givers are often confronted with the possibility of choosing gifts that are inconsistent with their own attitudes (“attitude-inconsistent gifts”). For example, a gun opposer may be faced with the possibility of choosing gun paraphernalia as a gift, and a vegetarian might be forced to consider the possibility of choosing a steakhouse gift card as a gift. This study aims to compare givers’ decision-making when they are confronted with the possibility of choosing attitude-inconsistent gifts with their decision-making when they are faced with the possibility of choosing gifts that are neither inconsistent nor consistent with their attitudes (“attitude-neutral gifts”). Design/methodology/approach Seven experimental studies test the hypotheses. These studies have participants make decisions as givers and use a variety of gifts, giver-recipient relationships, gifting occasions and dependent variables, as well as both consequential and hypothetical decisions. Findings Givers strategically avoid choosing attitude-inconsistent (vs attitude-neutral) gifts, even when they believe that these kinds of gifts are the ones that recipients desire the most. This aversion emerges because givers anticipate that choosing an attitude-inconsistent (vs attitude-neutral) gift would cause them to experience a higher level of psychological discomfort. Research limitations/implications This research documents a novel gift-giving phenomenon (givers’ aversion to attitude-inconsistent gifts), one of the most widespread forms of intentional preference-mismatching in gift-giving (givers’ avoidance of attitude-inconsistent gifts when they believe that these kinds of gifts are the ones that recipients desire the most), and a psychological mechanism that has a strong influence on givers’ decision-making but was yet to be explored in the gift-giving literature (givers’ anticipations of psychological discomfort). Collectively, these facets improve the field’s understanding of consumer gift-giving and call into question the assumption that gift-giving is aimed predominantly at pleasing the recipient. Practical implications This research suggests that if gift-givers want to be more financially efficient, they should refrain from contemplating the feelings of psychological discomfort that they would experience from choosing an attitude-inconsistent gift and instead focus on selecting the gift that the recipient desires the most. Moreover, it indicates that gift-givers’ tendency to avoid preferred, attitude-inconsistent gifts can have undesirable social and well-being consequences. Finally, it suggests that firms’ bottom lines may be harmed by givers’ aversion to attitude-inconsistent gifts, and that firms selling products that are likely attitude-inconsistent for segments of consumers should think carefully about advertising those products as gifts. Originality/value The gift-giving literature has recently documented multiple cases of givers intentionally refraining from choosing the gifts that they believe best match recipients’ preferences. Yet, the present work shows that there was a considerable gap in this segment of the gift-giving literature. Specifically, the present research documents a previously unexplored, but highly common, instance in which intentional preference-mismatching in gift-giving occurs: whenever a potential gift is attitude-inconsistent. Moreover, this work sheds light on a psychological mechanism that plays an important role in givers’ decision-making but was yet to be explored in the gift-giving literature: givers’ anticipated feelings of psychological discomfort.

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The ‘perfect gift’ and the ‘best gift ever’: An integrative framework for truly special gifts

Cited by 25 publications

References 41 publications

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

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

Spending the most on those who need it the least: gift givers buy more expensive gifts for affluent recipients

Your gift, but my attitude: gift-givers’ aversion to attitude-inconsistent gifts

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