• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.160-172
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• 2023

This study examines factors influencing gift sharing on social media. An online survey gathered data from American adults. It investigates how motivations for social media content posting, gift attributes, giver characteristics, and recipient reactions affect gift-sharing behavior. Findings show self-expression motives in content posting drive sharing, while social interaction motives do not. Gifts perceived as experiential and expensive are more likely to be shared. Recipient-centric gifts positively influence gift sharing, while giver-centric gifts hinder sharing. Attitude towards the gift predicts sharing, while appreciation does not. The study enhances understanding of gift sharing on social media and offers marketing insights for leveraging this behavior.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-102
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• 2020

Consumers purchase gifts for themselves and for others. This research examined whether one's preferred purchase type (material or experiential) would depend on the gift recipient (self or others). A total of 200 participants took part in online studies via Amazon Mechanical-Turk. Based on the construal-level theory, people will focus on concrete product attributes for psychologically close objects; however, for psychologically distant objects, people will concentrate on abstract product attributes. Study 1 demonstrated that participants preferred material over experiential purchases in self-gifting situations, while they preferred experiential compared to material gifts for others. In Study 2, it was found that individual differences in emotional disconnection moderated the effect of gift recipient on preferred gift type. Specifically, the differences in preferred gift type increased as one's emotional disconnection level increased. The results of this research have theoretical implications in terms of extending construal-level theory to gift-purchasing behaviors. Furthermore, this research has practical implications for marketers and advertisers. Limitations and possible future research directions were also discussed.