Giving the Gift of Goodness: An Exploration of Socially Responsible Gift-Giving

Abstract

Previous research demonstrates that consumers support firms' CSR activities, and increasingly demand socially responsible products and services. However, an implicit assumption in the extant literature is that the purchaser and the consumer of the product are the same person. The current research focuses on a unique form of socially responsible consumption behavior: giftgiving. Through thirty depth consumer interviews, we develop a typology of consumers based on whether consumers integrate CSR-related information into purchases, and whether the purchases are for themselves or for others (i.e., gifts). We find that in some instances, consumers actively avoid purchasing products from socially responsible organizations and do so with the intention of managing their impressions with the gift recipient. This is counter to previous research that suggests consumers often choose to make socially responsible consumption decisions in efforts to satisfy self-presentation concerns. In addition, the decision to engage in socially responsible consumption for oneself but not for others was motivated by a variety of factors including the role of the recipient and a concern over the credibility of socially responsible gifts. Finally, some participants who do not incorporate CSR into their own personal consumption chose gifts based on a variety of CSR activities in an effort to build awareness for socially responsible organizations.

New insights into socially responsible consumers: The role of personal values

“…Consumers who were more collectivistic and more interested in group goals and sharing considered CSR practices in their personal consumption decisions. This result is relevant to the idea that CSR practices might increase awareness of CSR initiatives among consumers who are interested in SRCB (Green et al, ). The partial effect of collectivism on SRCB is supported by previous findings that consumers who engage in certain type of SRCB do not necessarily behave uniformly.…”

“…According to Kollmuss and Agyeman (), personal values can narrow attitude/intention‐behavior gap by increasing trial and repetition and forming habits. Especially, SRCB is strongly related to personal values (Freestone & McGoldrick, ; Green, Tinson, & Peloza, ; Lee & Kim, ; Sheth, Newman, & Gross, ). Specifically, SRCB can increase self‐enhancement, impression management, affiliation with aspirational reference groups, and communication of one's identity to significant others (Green & Peloza, ; Green et al, ).…”

Counterfeit purchase typologies during an economic crisis

“…In qualitative research studies where the samples are smaller than the quantitative ones, it is not uncommon for consumer typologies to be developed based on qualitative findings (i.e., Angell et al, 2012;Green et al, 2014;Öberseder et al, 2013). Based on this study's participants' responses on counterfeit buying behavior we divided the buyers and non-buyers into four sub-groups of consumers.…”

Leave some for me! The role of marketing in influencing responsible consumption during times of crisis

“…Research on responsible consumption has explored disparate topics such as socially responsible music consumption (Green, Sinclair et al, 2016) and giftgiving (Green, Tinson, & Peloza, 2016). The former study found that consumers perceive supporting local musicians, through means such aspurchasing music or attending concerts, as a form of socially responsible consumption, while the latter suggests consumers may avoid buying products from socially responsible organizations to manage the gift-receiver's impressions of the gift-giver.…”