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ISSN : 1229-8778
Prior research has shown that consumers express their identity through products or brands, so they make a purchase of identity-consistent products. In the context of gift consumption, however, an individual often chooses a product (gift) which is opposite to one’s identity to please a gift recipient. It leads the individual to suffer psychological discomfort, such as identity threat. This is because people are motivated to act consistently with their own identity. According to self-construal theory, there are two types of self-construals, independent and interdependent. Individuals with an independent self-construal view oneself as stable and distinct from others, whereas those with an interdependent self-construal view oneself as flexible and connected to others. These differences in self-construals affect individual’s ways of thinking and behavior. That is people who hold the independent view of the self put high value on internal attributes and express themselves in a consistent manner, while those who hold the interdependent view of the self emphasize harmonious relationship with others rather than one’s own characteristics. The current study investigates the effects of self-construal on gift-giving consumption based on self-construal theory, identity-based motivation model, and cognitive dissonance theory. The results indicate that independent self participants (vs. interdependent self participants) choose the identity-consistent gift more, but interdependent self participants (vs. independent self participants) chooses the identity-inconsistent gift more. Also, independent self participants show more positive attitudes toward a gift option which is identity-consistent than interdependent self participants. For a gift option which is identity-inconsistent, interdependent self participants are more positive than independent self participants. This study develop a better understanding of consumer behavior by exploring the relationship between self-construal, identity threat, and gift consumption.
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