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The role of social power relations in gift giving on Valentine's Day
Author(s) -
Rugimbana Robert,
Donahay Brett,
Neal Christopher,
Polonsky Michael Jay
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.122
Subject(s) - altruism (biology) , gift giving , obligation , power (physics) , social psychology , context (archaeology) , psychology , sociology , positive economics , economics , political science , law , paleontology , physics , conflict of interest , quantum mechanics , biology
This study investigates motives for gift giving by young males on Valentine's Day and advances previous research on this ritual by controlling for the giving context (occasion and relationship). The study is consistent with previous work by Goodwin et al. (1990) which found that motivations based on obligation, self‐interest and altruism do indeed exist. More significantly, however, this study points to the finding that individual motivations for the gift‐giving ritual on Valentine's Day may be more intricately intertwined and have deeper manifestations in the perceived social power relationship between the genders. The study recommends that marketers delve beyond the immediate horizon of individual motivations and become even more acutely aware of the ‘intrinsic social power messages’ that arise from the conjoint influences of motivations. This would have great potential for marketing even more meaningful gift products to both givers and receivers. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd.