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Use and disposition of a gift and the recipient's feedback in a collectivist environment
Abstract
The giving and receiving of gifts, due to its economic and social implications, has attracted the attention of different disciplines, Marketing and Consumer Behavior among them. The receiver as an important actor has aroused an increasing interest; however few studies have been oriented to study his/her behavior after the reception of the gift either in culturally individualistic or collectivistic environments.
In order to help fill the knowledge gap, this study was carried out in Ecuador, a country characterized as highly collectivistic. The research conducted was qualitative in nature, and involved in-depth personal interviews with 24 individuals who received a total of 90 gifts for Christmas the year before. Based on the receiver`s satisfaction with the gift(s) and the freedom re: use/disposal of the gift(s) perceived to be permitted by the giver, four fundamental themes arose from the data: the gift as a (1) common; (2) special; (3) awkward; or (4) inadequate product. Within each of these themes, gift recipients revealed different attitudes and behavior concerning the use and disposition of their gift(s) and also of feedback to the giver.
References
Belk, Russell W. (1975), “Situational Variables and Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 2(3), 157-164.
Belk, Russell W. (1976), “It's the Thought that Counts: A Signed Digraph Analysis of Gift-Giving,” Journal of Consumer Research, 3(3), 155-162.
Belk, Russell W. (1988), “Possessions and the Extended Self,” Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139-168.
Belk, Russell W. and Gregory S. Coon (1993), “Gift Giving as Agapic Love: An Alternative to the Exchange Paradigm Based on Dating Experiences,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20(3), 393-417.
Braun, Virginia and Victoria Clarke (2006), “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology,” Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Burnard, P., P. Gill, K. Stewart, and B. Chadwick (2008), “Analyzing and Presenting Qualitative Data,” British Dental Journal, 204(8), 429-432.
Caplow, T. (1982), “Christmas Gifts and Kin Networks,” American Sociological Review, 47 (3), 383-392
Caplow, Theodore (1984), “Rule Enforcement Without Visible Means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown,” American Journal of Sociology, 89(6), 1306-1323.
Cruz, Jorge (2010), “Comportamiento del Consumidor Receptor del Regalo Durante el Proceso de Toma de Decisiones,” Revista Brasileira de Marketing, 9(3), 5-26.
Deloitte SL (2010), www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Spain/LocalAssets/Documents/Estudios/Estudio_Navidad_2010.pdf
Deloitte SL (2011), “Estudio de Consumo Navideño, Navidad 2011,” Retrieved August 6, 2012 from
http://estaticos.elmundo.es/especiales/navidad/2011/img/estudio_consumo.pdf
Delorme, Denise E., George M. Zinkhan and Scott C. Hagen (2004), “The Process of Consumer Reactions to Possession Threats and Losses in a Natural Disaster,” Marketing Letters, 15(4), 185-199.
Fernandez, Itziar, Elena Zubieta and Darío Páez (2000), “Expresión e Inhibición Emocional en Diferentes Culturas” in Cultura y Alexitimia, Darío Páez y María Martina Casullo (eds.), Paidós, Buenos Aires, 73-98.
Fischer, Eileen and Stephen J. Arnold (1990), “More than a Labor of Love: Gender Roles and Christmas Gift Shopping,” J. of Consumer Research, 17(3), 333-345.
Fiske, Alan (1992), “The Four Elementary Forms of Sociality: Framework for a Unified Theory of Social Relations,” Psychological Review, 99(4), 689-723.
Gallup (2011), “Americans Plan to Spend Same on Christmas 2011 as in 2010,” Retrieved August 6, 2012 from www.gallup.com/poll/150203/americans-plan-spend-christmas-2011-2010.aspx
Garner, Thesia I. and Janet Wagner (1991), “Economic Dimensions of Household Gift Giving,” Journal of Consumer Research, 18(3), 368-379.
Geddes, Deanna and Frank Linnehan (1996), “Exploring the Dimensionality of Positive and Negative Performance Feedback,” Communication Quarterly, 44(3), 326-344.
Gehrt, Kenneth C., and Soyeon Shim (2002), “Situational Influence in the International Marketplace: An Examination of Japanese Gift-Giving,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10(1), 11-22.
Glaser, Barney G. and Anselm L. Strauss (1967), Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Transaction, New Brunswick.
Green, Robert T. and Dana L. Alden (1988), “Functional Equivalence in Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior: Gift Giving in Japan and the United States,” Psychology and Marketing, 5(2), 155-168.
Hall, Edward T. (1976), Beyond Culture, Anchor Books, NY.
Hanson, James W. (1980), “A Proposed Paradigm for Consumer Product Disposition Processes”, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 14(1), 49–67.
Hofstede, Geert (2001), Culture´s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hulbert, James and Noël Capon (1972), “Interpersonal Communication in Marketing: An Overview,” Journal of Marketing Research, 9(1), 27-34.
148 Gifts in a Collectivist Environment
Ilgen, Daniel R., Cynthia D. Fisher and M. Susan Taylor (1979), “Consequences of Individual Feedback on Behavior in Organizations,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 64(4), 349-371.
Jacoby, Jacob, Carol K. Berning and Thomas F. Dietvorst (1977), “What About Disposition?,” Journal of Marketing, 41(2), 22-28.
Jolibert, Alain J.P. and C. Fernandez-Moreno (1983), “Comparison of French and Mexican Gift Giving Practices,” Advances in Consumer Research, 10(1), 191-6.
Knapp Mark L. and Judith A. Hall (2010), Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction, 7th. ed., Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Boston.
Larsen, Derek and John J. Watson (2001) “A Guide Map to the Terrain of Gift Value,” Psychology and Marketing, 18(8), 889-906.
Mauss, Marcel (1923-1924), “Essai Sur le Don: Forme et Raison de l’échange Dans les Sociétés Archaïques,” Année Sociologique, 1, 30-186.
McGrath, Mary Ann and Basil Englis (1996), “Intergenerational Gift Giving in Subcultural Wedding Celebrations: The Ritual Audience As Cash Cow,” in Gift-Giving: A Research Anthology, Cele Otnes and Richard. F. Beltramini (eds.), Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH, 123-141.
Mick, David Glen and Michelle DeMoss (1990), “Self-Gifts: Phenomenological Insights from Four Contexts,” J. of Consumer Research, 17(3), 322-332.
Minowa, Yuko and Stephen J. Gould (1999), “Love My Gift, Love Me or is it Love Me, Love My Gift: A Study of the Cultural Construction of Romantic Gift Giving among Japanese Couples," Advances in Consumer Research, 26(1), 119-124.
Otnes, Cele, Tina M. Lowrey and Young Chan Kim (1993), “Gift Selection for Easy and Difficult Recipients: A Social Roles Interpretation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20(2), 229-244.
Park, Seon-Yeon (1998), “A Comparison of Korean and American Gift-Giving Behaviors,” Psychology and Marketing, 15(6), 577-593.
Patton, Michael Quinn (1999), “Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Analysis,” Health Services Research, 34(5), 1189–1208.
Pieters, Rick G.M. and Henry S.J. Robben (1998), “Beyond the Horses´s Mouth: Exploring Acquisition and Exchange Utility in Gift Evaluation,” Advances in Consumer Research, 25(1), 163-169.
Ruesch, Jurgen and Weldon Kees (1956), Nonverbal Communication: Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations, U. of California Press, Berkeley.
Ruth, Julie A. (1996), “It’s the Feeling that Counts: Toward an Understanding of Emotion and its Influence on Gift-Exchange Processes”, in Gift-Giving: A Research Anthology, Cele Otnes and Richard. F. Beltramini (eds.), Bowling Green Univ. Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH, 195-214.
Ruth, Julie A., Cele C. Otnes and Fréderic. F. Brunel (1999), “Gift Receipt and the Reformulation of Interpersonal Relationships,” Journal of Consumer Research, 25(4), 385-402.
Schiffman, Leon G., Leslie Lazar Kanuk and Joseph Wisenblit (2010), Consumer Behavior, 10th. ed., Pearson Education / Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Shuling, Liao and Huang Yu-Huang (2006), “The Effects of Individual and Joint Gift Giving on Receipt Emotions,” Journal of American Academy of Business, 10(1) 160-166.
Sherry, John. F., Jr. (1983), “Gift Giving in Anthropological Perspective,” Journal of Consumer Research, 10(2), 157-168.
Sherry, John. F., Jr., Mary McGrath and S. J. Levy (1992), “The Disposition of the Gift and Many Unhappy Returns,” Journal of Retailing, 68(1), 40-65.
Sheth, Jagdish N., B. I. Newman and B. L. Gross (1991), “Why We Buy What We Buy: A Theory of Consumption Values,” J. of Business Research, 22(2), 159-170.
Spiggle, Susan (1994), “Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data in Consumer Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 21(3), 491-503.
Thompson, Craig J., William B. Locander and Howard R. Pollio (1989), “Putting Consumer Experience Back into Consumer Research: The Philosophy and Method of Existential-Phenomenology,” Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2), 133-146.
Triandis, Harry C. and Michele J. Gelfand (1998), “Converging Measurement of Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118-128.
Tsuda, Takeyuki (2001), “From Ethnic Affinity to Alienation in the Global Ecumene: The Encounter between the Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian Return Migrants,” Diaspora, 10(1), 53-91.
Vodosek, Marcus (2009), “The Relationship between Relational Models and Individualism and Collectivism: Evidence from Culturally Diverse Work Groups,” International Journal of Psychology, 44 (2), 120-128.
Wang, Jianfeng, Francis Piron, and Mai Van Xuan (2001), “Faring one Thousand Miles to Give Goose Feathers: Gift Giving in the People`s Republic of China,” Advances in Consumer Research, 28(1), 58-63.
Wang, Qian, Mohammed Abdur Razzaque and Ah Keng Kau (2007), “Chinese Cultural Values and Gift-Giving Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(4), 214-228.
Belk, Russell W. (1976), “It's the Thought that Counts: A Signed Digraph Analysis of Gift-Giving,” Journal of Consumer Research, 3(3), 155-162.
Belk, Russell W. (1988), “Possessions and the Extended Self,” Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139-168.
Belk, Russell W. and Gregory S. Coon (1993), “Gift Giving as Agapic Love: An Alternative to the Exchange Paradigm Based on Dating Experiences,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20(3), 393-417.
Braun, Virginia and Victoria Clarke (2006), “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology,” Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Burnard, P., P. Gill, K. Stewart, and B. Chadwick (2008), “Analyzing and Presenting Qualitative Data,” British Dental Journal, 204(8), 429-432.
Caplow, T. (1982), “Christmas Gifts and Kin Networks,” American Sociological Review, 47 (3), 383-392
Caplow, Theodore (1984), “Rule Enforcement Without Visible Means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown,” American Journal of Sociology, 89(6), 1306-1323.
Cruz, Jorge (2010), “Comportamiento del Consumidor Receptor del Regalo Durante el Proceso de Toma de Decisiones,” Revista Brasileira de Marketing, 9(3), 5-26.
Deloitte SL (2010), www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Spain/LocalAssets/Documents/Estudios/Estudio_Navidad_2010.pdf
Deloitte SL (2011), “Estudio de Consumo Navideño, Navidad 2011,” Retrieved August 6, 2012 from
http://estaticos.elmundo.es/especiales/navidad/2011/img/estudio_consumo.pdf
Delorme, Denise E., George M. Zinkhan and Scott C. Hagen (2004), “The Process of Consumer Reactions to Possession Threats and Losses in a Natural Disaster,” Marketing Letters, 15(4), 185-199.
Fernandez, Itziar, Elena Zubieta and Darío Páez (2000), “Expresión e Inhibición Emocional en Diferentes Culturas” in Cultura y Alexitimia, Darío Páez y María Martina Casullo (eds.), Paidós, Buenos Aires, 73-98.
Fischer, Eileen and Stephen J. Arnold (1990), “More than a Labor of Love: Gender Roles and Christmas Gift Shopping,” J. of Consumer Research, 17(3), 333-345.
Fiske, Alan (1992), “The Four Elementary Forms of Sociality: Framework for a Unified Theory of Social Relations,” Psychological Review, 99(4), 689-723.
Gallup (2011), “Americans Plan to Spend Same on Christmas 2011 as in 2010,” Retrieved August 6, 2012 from www.gallup.com/poll/150203/americans-plan-spend-christmas-2011-2010.aspx
Garner, Thesia I. and Janet Wagner (1991), “Economic Dimensions of Household Gift Giving,” Journal of Consumer Research, 18(3), 368-379.
Geddes, Deanna and Frank Linnehan (1996), “Exploring the Dimensionality of Positive and Negative Performance Feedback,” Communication Quarterly, 44(3), 326-344.
Gehrt, Kenneth C., and Soyeon Shim (2002), “Situational Influence in the International Marketplace: An Examination of Japanese Gift-Giving,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10(1), 11-22.
Glaser, Barney G. and Anselm L. Strauss (1967), Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Transaction, New Brunswick.
Green, Robert T. and Dana L. Alden (1988), “Functional Equivalence in Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior: Gift Giving in Japan and the United States,” Psychology and Marketing, 5(2), 155-168.
Hall, Edward T. (1976), Beyond Culture, Anchor Books, NY.
Hanson, James W. (1980), “A Proposed Paradigm for Consumer Product Disposition Processes”, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 14(1), 49–67.
Hofstede, Geert (2001), Culture´s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hulbert, James and Noël Capon (1972), “Interpersonal Communication in Marketing: An Overview,” Journal of Marketing Research, 9(1), 27-34.
148 Gifts in a Collectivist Environment
Ilgen, Daniel R., Cynthia D. Fisher and M. Susan Taylor (1979), “Consequences of Individual Feedback on Behavior in Organizations,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 64(4), 349-371.
Jacoby, Jacob, Carol K. Berning and Thomas F. Dietvorst (1977), “What About Disposition?,” Journal of Marketing, 41(2), 22-28.
Jolibert, Alain J.P. and C. Fernandez-Moreno (1983), “Comparison of French and Mexican Gift Giving Practices,” Advances in Consumer Research, 10(1), 191-6.
Knapp Mark L. and Judith A. Hall (2010), Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction, 7th. ed., Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Boston.
Larsen, Derek and John J. Watson (2001) “A Guide Map to the Terrain of Gift Value,” Psychology and Marketing, 18(8), 889-906.
Mauss, Marcel (1923-1924), “Essai Sur le Don: Forme et Raison de l’échange Dans les Sociétés Archaïques,” Année Sociologique, 1, 30-186.
McGrath, Mary Ann and Basil Englis (1996), “Intergenerational Gift Giving in Subcultural Wedding Celebrations: The Ritual Audience As Cash Cow,” in Gift-Giving: A Research Anthology, Cele Otnes and Richard. F. Beltramini (eds.), Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH, 123-141.
Mick, David Glen and Michelle DeMoss (1990), “Self-Gifts: Phenomenological Insights from Four Contexts,” J. of Consumer Research, 17(3), 322-332.
Minowa, Yuko and Stephen J. Gould (1999), “Love My Gift, Love Me or is it Love Me, Love My Gift: A Study of the Cultural Construction of Romantic Gift Giving among Japanese Couples," Advances in Consumer Research, 26(1), 119-124.
Otnes, Cele, Tina M. Lowrey and Young Chan Kim (1993), “Gift Selection for Easy and Difficult Recipients: A Social Roles Interpretation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20(2), 229-244.
Park, Seon-Yeon (1998), “A Comparison of Korean and American Gift-Giving Behaviors,” Psychology and Marketing, 15(6), 577-593.
Patton, Michael Quinn (1999), “Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Analysis,” Health Services Research, 34(5), 1189–1208.
Pieters, Rick G.M. and Henry S.J. Robben (1998), “Beyond the Horses´s Mouth: Exploring Acquisition and Exchange Utility in Gift Evaluation,” Advances in Consumer Research, 25(1), 163-169.
Ruesch, Jurgen and Weldon Kees (1956), Nonverbal Communication: Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations, U. of California Press, Berkeley.
Ruth, Julie A. (1996), “It’s the Feeling that Counts: Toward an Understanding of Emotion and its Influence on Gift-Exchange Processes”, in Gift-Giving: A Research Anthology, Cele Otnes and Richard. F. Beltramini (eds.), Bowling Green Univ. Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH, 195-214.
Ruth, Julie A., Cele C. Otnes and Fréderic. F. Brunel (1999), “Gift Receipt and the Reformulation of Interpersonal Relationships,” Journal of Consumer Research, 25(4), 385-402.
Schiffman, Leon G., Leslie Lazar Kanuk and Joseph Wisenblit (2010), Consumer Behavior, 10th. ed., Pearson Education / Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Shuling, Liao and Huang Yu-Huang (2006), “The Effects of Individual and Joint Gift Giving on Receipt Emotions,” Journal of American Academy of Business, 10(1) 160-166.
Sherry, John. F., Jr. (1983), “Gift Giving in Anthropological Perspective,” Journal of Consumer Research, 10(2), 157-168.
Sherry, John. F., Jr., Mary McGrath and S. J. Levy (1992), “The Disposition of the Gift and Many Unhappy Returns,” Journal of Retailing, 68(1), 40-65.
Sheth, Jagdish N., B. I. Newman and B. L. Gross (1991), “Why We Buy What We Buy: A Theory of Consumption Values,” J. of Business Research, 22(2), 159-170.
Spiggle, Susan (1994), “Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data in Consumer Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 21(3), 491-503.
Thompson, Craig J., William B. Locander and Howard R. Pollio (1989), “Putting Consumer Experience Back into Consumer Research: The Philosophy and Method of Existential-Phenomenology,” Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2), 133-146.
Triandis, Harry C. and Michele J. Gelfand (1998), “Converging Measurement of Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118-128.
Tsuda, Takeyuki (2001), “From Ethnic Affinity to Alienation in the Global Ecumene: The Encounter between the Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian Return Migrants,” Diaspora, 10(1), 53-91.
Vodosek, Marcus (2009), “The Relationship between Relational Models and Individualism and Collectivism: Evidence from Culturally Diverse Work Groups,” International Journal of Psychology, 44 (2), 120-128.
Wang, Jianfeng, Francis Piron, and Mai Van Xuan (2001), “Faring one Thousand Miles to Give Goose Feathers: Gift Giving in the People`s Republic of China,” Advances in Consumer Research, 28(1), 58-63.
Wang, Qian, Mohammed Abdur Razzaque and Ah Keng Kau (2007), “Chinese Cultural Values and Gift-Giving Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(4), 214-228.
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