Gift giving should always be considered in the larger context in which it occurs. As you are choosing gifts for your Hugsi connections, be sure to consider these five contextual factors.
1. Cultural Differences
Culture is arguably the most important contextual variable to consider. Indeed, much academic research investigates the important role that culture plays in gift giving. More specific factors that fall under the larger cultural variable include concepts such as cultural norms/rules, cultural orientation, and cultural values.
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Long story short, when giving to people of other cultural backgrounds, be sure to familiarize yourself with gift giving etiquette in their culture so that you know the do’s and the don’ts!
2. The Gifting Occasion
Another important contextual element is the gift giving occasion. This contextual factor helps demarcate, or set the limits of gift giving from typical consumer behavior. That is, most gift purchases are prompted by a special occasion, whereas most non-gift purchases are not. Specific facets that fall under this umbrella include whether the occasion is formal versus informal, happy versus sad, rewarding versus celebratory in nature, characterized by a social norm, and characterized by an expectation of reciprocity, along with whether the gift-giving even involves a special occasion at all.
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As you are weighing potential gift options for your Hugsi connections, always be sure to consider the nature of the gifting occasion and ensure that your gift matches it!
3. The Giver-Recipient Relationship
The giver-recipient relationship is another crucial contextual factor. This facet also helps distinguish gift giving from typical consumer behavior. By definition, gift giving involves another person; this is not always the case for non-gift purchases. Some elements that fall under this category include whether the giver and recipient are socially close versus distant as well as the categorical relationship between the two (i.e., romantic partners vs. friends vs. close family members vs. extended family members).
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Here, our suggestion is to reflect on the kind of relationship you have with the person to whom you are giving. Just think, in many cases, we wouldn’t even consider giving the same gift to our parents that we would to our spouse!
4. Individual-Level Differences Individual-level differences across your connections require consideration as well. Demographic variables, such as age and gender, are important. Beyond mere demographic characteristics, differences related to personality are also critical. This is largely where Hugsi comes in to help: by providing the Gift Languages™ for your connections! Lastly, do note that some recipients may be pickier or more challenging than others, so this warrants consideration as well when you are selecting gifts.
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5. The Number Of People Present Finally, the number of individuals involved—either as givers or recipients—is a factor that you should consider. In cases where there will be other givers choosing for the recipient (e.g., birthdays), you should consider what the others might give. You will want to avoid a situation where you either spend far more or far less than others. Likewise, in cases where you will be giving to multiple recipients simultaneously (e.g., the winter holidays), it is important to remember that they will all see your gifts for everyone else, so choose your gifts accordingly.
Happy Gifting!
- The Hugsi Team 🎁
Visit hugsi.com to never receive a bad gift again!
Note: This post was based on text from one of Dr. Givi’s publications (listed below) and borrows much of its text from that publication. The publication is the original source and should be credited and cited by others (instead of this blog post) who use the information in this blog post.
Givi, J., Birg, L., Lowrey, T. M., & Galak, J. (2022). An integrative review of gift- giving research in consumer behavior and marketing. Journal of Consumer Psychology.
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