Will More Expensive Gifts be More Appreciated?

Purpose: Will more expensive gifts be more pleasurable and appreciated? This is a general expectation of gift-givers. According to the previous study on Americans (Flynn and Adams 2009), recipients tend to appreciate gifts regardless of their price. It indicates that there is an interaction effect between position (giving / receiving) and gift price. This study expands the previous study and aims to answer the following two questions: "Are such an interaction effect observed in Korean, too?" and "What types of people prefer expensive gifts?" Research design, data, and methodology: Study 1 of the current research repeated the Study 3 of Flynn and Adams (2009), with an iPod (high-priced gift condition) and a music CD (low-priced gift condition). That is, a 2 (gift price: high / low) x 2 (position: giver / receiver) between-group design was used. Study 2 used gift certificates of 100,000 won (high-priced gift condition) and 5,000-won gift (low-priced gift condition). Unlike the previous study that measured only one dependent variable (gratitude), this study added five more dependent variables in an attempt to exclude alternative explanations, such as endowment effects or emotional conflicts. This study also measured individualism / collectivism, face sensitivity, and materialism to explore the types of people who prefer expensive gifts. Results: The interaction effect between gift price and position on the level of appreciation was not significant. Meanwhile the main effect of gift price and of position were significant. The gift-recipient was more appreciative than the gift-givers' expectation regardless of the price of gifts. To investigate individual differences, individualism/collectivism, face sensitivity, and materialism were examined, but none of these variables were significantly related to the preference for expensive gifts. Respondents who received gift certificates in Study 2 were less grateful than those who received iPods or music CDs in Study 1. Conclusions: This study found that Koreans tend to be more grateful if they receive expensive gifts, in contrast to the Flynn and Adams (2009)'s study with Americans. In addition, gift-recipients appreciated more than givers' expectation and were more grateful when they received tangible products rather than gift certificates.