The gift-giving literature has documented several cases in which givers and recipients do not see eye-to-eye in gift-giving decisions. To help integrate this considerable segment…
Abstract
Purpose
The gift-giving literature has documented several cases in which givers and recipients do not see eye-to-eye in gift-giving decisions. To help integrate this considerable segment of the gifting literature, this paper aims to develop a social norms-based framework for understanding and predicting giver-recipient asymmetries in gift selection.
Design/methodology/approach
Five experimental studies test the hypotheses. Participants in these studies evaluate gifts used in previous research, choose between gifts as either gift-givers or gift-recipients, and/or indicate their level of discomfort with choosing different kinds of gifts. The gifts vary in ways that allow the authors to test the social norms-based framework.
Findings
Gift-giving asymmetries tend to occur when one of the gifts under consideration is less descriptively, but not less injunctively, normative than the other. This theme holds for both asymmetries recorded in the gift-giving literature and novel ones. Indeed, the authors document new asymmetries in cases where the framework would expect asymmetries to occur and, providing critical support for the framework, the absence of asymmetries in cases where the framework would not expect asymmetries to emerge. Moreover, the authors explain these asymmetries, and lack thereof, using a mechanism that is novel to the literature on gift-giving mismatches: feelings of discomfort.
Research limitations/implications
This research has multiple theoretical implications for the literatures studying gift-giving and social norms. A limitation of this work is that it left some (secondary) predictions of its model untested. Future research could test some of these predictions.
Practical implications
Billions of dollars are spent on gifts each year, making gift-giving a research topic of great practical importance. In addition, the research offers suggestions to consumers giving gifts, consumers receiving gifts, as well as marketers.
Originality/value
The research is original in that it creates a novel framework that predicts both the presence and absence of gift-giving asymmetries, introduces a psychological mechanism to the literature on giver-recipient gift choice asymmetries, and unifies many of the mismatches previously documented in this literature.
Details
Keywords
Social media.
Abstract
Subject area
Social media.
Study level/applicability
Under graduate/Easy.
Case overview
The case study presents a discussion on how the Delhi Traffic Police has used social media, Facebook in particular, to collaborate with the commuters on Delhi road to improve its traffic management. This case study can be as an example to illustrate the use of social media by a government department, to address operational and resources limitations. The case traces the start and evolution of the Delhi Traffic Police’s journey on the social media as the department responds to the inputs from the commuters on its Facebook page.
Expected learning outcomes
The case study is an illustration of a non-traditional application of a new technology by a non-business organization, the challenges it faces in its adoption and the solutions it provides.
Supplementary materials
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Subject code
CSS 8: Marketing