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Give Me Your Self: Gifts are Liked More When

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Article in Journal of Consumer Psychology January 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006

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Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxx xxx

Research Report
Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match
the giver's characteristics
Gabriele Paolacci a,, Laura M. Straeter a , Ilona E. de Hooge b
a
Department of Marketing Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
b
Department of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Received 30 January 2014; received in revised form 18 November 2014; accepted 10 January 2015

Abstract

Research on gift giving has devoted considerable attention to understanding whether and how givers succeed in choosing gifts that match
recipients' tastes. On the contrary, this article focuses on how recipients' appreciation for a gift depends on the match between the gift and the
giver. Four studies demonstrate that recipients are particularly appreciative when they receive gifts that guratively match the giver, i.e., that
contain references to the giver's characteristics, because they perceive such gifts as more congruent with the giver's identity. This effect is not
conditional on inferences recipients might make about the giver's motivations or on whether recipients have a good relationship with the giver, but
relies on the match concerning core rather than peripheral characteristics of the giver. Importantly for our understanding of identity-based
motivation, these ndings demonstrate in a gift-giving context that identity-congruence not only drives consumer behavior, but is also appreciated
in other people.
2015 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Gift giving; Gift evaluation; Identity; Identity-congruence; Identity-based motivation

On occasions such as celebrations and anniversaries, we often
find ourselves wondering what gifts we could buy to make our
friends and relatives happy. Past research has identified many
characteristics that affect recipients' satisfaction with the gifts
they receive. Typically, gift-giving researchers have investigated
how gift appreciation depends on the fit between the gift and the
recipient's tastes and desires (Gino & Flynn, 2011; Ward &
Broniarczyk, 2011) and on the relationship between the giver
and the recipient (Belk, 1976; Ruth, Otnes, & Brunel, 1999).
In contrast, the current paper focuses on how the relationship
between the giver and the gift affects recipients' appreciation
for the gifts they receive. We propose that recipients like a gift
differently depending on whether or not it matches the giver, i.e.,
on whether or not the gift contains references to the core
Corresponding author at: Department of Marketing Management, Rotterdam
School of Management, Erasmus University, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 10 408 90 11.
E-mail address: gpaolacci@rsm.nl (G. Paolacci).
characteristics of the giver. Four studies show that gifts that
merely contain aesthetic references to the giver's core character-
istics (e.g., the giver's passions) are appreciated more by recipients,
because they are perceived as more congruent with the giver's
identity. These findings have theoretical and practical implications
for identity-based motivation and gift giving, and suggest new
research questions about how identity-congruence affects con-
sumer behavior.
Theoretical background
We propose that recipients particularly appreciate gifts that
match the giver, i.e., that contain references to the giver's
characteristics, because recipients perceive such gifts as congru-
ent with the giver's identity. Theoretically, this proposition builds
on people's inherent preference for identity-congruence when
they consider other people's expressions, and on the role of gifts
as expressions of the giver's identity.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
1057-7408/ 2015 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
2 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
Identity has been demonstrated to be a strong predictor of
people's behavior. Both the personal and the social characteristics
of people's identity (e.g., traits, group memberships) can determine
people's goals and actions (Oyserman, 2009). Recently, the
identity-based motivation model articulated why and how people
are motivated to act in ways that are congruent with their identity
(for reviews see Oyserman, 2007, 2009). Making choices that are
consistent with one's identity feels right, both when the identity
is chronically salient and when it is temporarily cued. In the
marketplace, individuals express their identity by preferring
products that convey who they are and the communities they
belong to (Belk, 1988; Berger & Heath, 2007; Escalas & Bettman,
2003, 2005). Practically, consumers seek identity-congruence
when making choices that are both central in their life (e.g., when
they consider career opportunities; Cheryan, Plaut, Davies, &
Steele, 2009) and trivial (e.g., detergents; Forehand & Deshpande,
2001).
Especially because people expect identities to be stable over
time, they not only use their own identities to guide their
behaviors and decisions; they also evaluate other people's
behaviors and purchase decisions in relation to the actors'
identities (Belk, Mayer, & Bahn, 1982; Berger & Heath, 2007;
Calder & Burnkrant, 1977). In particular, people seem to
appreciate consistency not only in their own attitudes and
behaviors, but also in the attitudes and behavior of other people
(Cialdini, Trost, & Newsom, 1995; Fiske & Taylor, 1991;
Guadagno & Cialdini, 2010). Being inconsistent is perceived
as a sign of being inauthentic and not true to one's self,
traits that people consider to be inherently negative (Sheldon,
Ryan, Rawsthorne, & Ilardi, 1997). In terms of identity-based
motivation, this stream of research suggests that consumers
may value identity-congruent expressions both when they
pertain to their own actions and when they pertain to others'
actions.
Table 1
Means (and standard deviations) per condition for all studies.
Study 1 Match
Gift appreciation 5.83 (1.10)
Identity congruence 5.74 (1.04)
Study 2 Urban
Preference for landscape print 5.02 (2.91)
Landscape print relative congruence 1.72 (2.11)
Study 3 Good friend
Match
Gift appreciation 5.26 (1.55)
Identity congruence 5.66 (1.19)
Study 4 Core match
Gift appreciation 5.64 (1.08)
Identity congruence 6.16 (0.97)
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
Gifts are no exception to this identity-based motivation
framework. Research on gift giving has long highlighted the
role of gifts as a tool that allows givers to express their
identities, and that self-presentation might be one of the most
prominent symbolic functions of gift giving (Schwartz, 1967;
Wolfinbarger, 1990). In fact, the giver's self concept may often
be more predictive of the characteristics of a gift than the
giver's concept of the receiver (Belk, 1979). In this work, we
explore whether appreciating congruence in the expressions of
other people's identities translates into increased appreciation
among gift recipients for gifts that figuratively match the giver,
i.e., that contain references to core characteristics of the giver.
Note that the fact that the giver matters in how recipients
evaluate a gift is not new to the gift giving literature; however,
whereas previous research has focused on the relationship
between the giver and the recipient (Belk, 1976; Ruth et al.,
1999), we hypothesize that gift appreciation is also affected by
the relationship between the giver and the gift.
Consider the examples of Olivia and Jack, who are passionate
about Italian culture and horses respectively. We hypothesize that
Olivia's and Jack's friends will particularly appreciate gifts that
contain references to Italy and horses (e.g., a mug or a mouse pad
with Italy- and horses-related pictures), because such gifts are
perceived as more congruent with Olivia and Jack. Of course, not
any reference to the giver will be perceived as congruent with the
giver's identity. In particular, a non-core descriptor of the giver
that is matched by the gift should not result in a gift that is
perceived as particularly congruent with the giver, and therefore
should not result in increased appreciation. Using the examples
above, if Italy and horses were only incidentally related to Olivia
and Jack rather than being core descriptors of their identities (e.g.,
if Italy was the country of origin of a liked artist or a horse was
portrayed on the cover of a liked book), Italy- and horses-related
gifts should not result in increased appreciation.
No match
5.27 (0.97)
4.47 (1.52)
Landscape Control
6.14 (2.79) 5.76 (2.87)
1.27 (1.78) 0.03 (1.15)
Acquaintance Disliked person
No match Match No match Match No match
4.53 (1.54) 4.79 (1.16) 4.19 (1.36) 4.11 (1.29) 3.00 (1.44)
4.10 (1.54) 5.28 (1.20) 4.08 (1.57) 5.20 (1.14) 3.47 (2.14)
Non-core match No match
5.13 (1.34) 5.03 (1.45)
5.45 (1.38) 5.11 (1.14)
 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
Study overview
We report four studies that tested whether gift recipients are
particularly appreciative of gifts that figuratively match the
giver, and that together exclude explanations for this effect
other than the perceived congruence between the gift and
the giver's identity. Importantly, gifts in our studies are not
functionally related to the giver's characteristics (e.g., a mug
received by an amateur or professional craftsman) but merely
contain or not aesthetic references to the giver (e.g., a mug with
a picture referencing the giver's country of origin). This rules
out the alternative explanation that recipients are particularly
appreciative of giver-matched gifts because they infer higher
quality from the giver's (presumed) expertise. Study 1 shows
that recipients appreciate a gift more when it matches the giver,
i.e., when it contains references to the giver's characteristics.
Study 2 decouples the gift from the act of giving and
demonstrates that the attractiveness of giver-matched gifts
does not depend on recipients' inferences about the giver's
motivations. Study 3 reveals that recipients' preferences for
giver-matched gifts do not depend on how they feel towards the
giver, ruling out the alternative explanation that recipients
appreciate giver-matched gifts more because these gifts will be
reminders of people they like. Finally, Study 4 shows that
recipients appreciate giver-matched gifts more only when the
match concerns a core (as opposed to a more peripheral)
descriptor of the giver. Confirming our theoretical account, in
each of our studies we find that the perceived congruence of the
gift with the giver's identity mediates the effect of matching on
gift appreciation.
Study 1
The goal of Study 1 was to demonstrate that recipients
appreciate a gift more when the gift matches the giver, i.e., when
the gift contains references to the giver's core characteristics.
Participants read a scenario about receiving a gift and indicated
how much they appreciated the gift. In order to keep the gift
constant across conditions, in all studies we manipulated the
relationship between the giver and the gift by changing the
description of the giver.
Method
Seventy-three international students from Erasmus University
Rotterdam (30.1% females, Mage = 21.27, SDage = 1.97) partic-
ipated in this study in exchange for course credit. In a between
participants design, participants were randomly assigned to one
of two different scenarios. Participants read that as a gift for
graduating, their friend Robin gave them a mug depicting Cupid
and Psyche, a painting that is part of the Louvre museum's
collection in Paris. Critically, the scenario included a description
of Robin that slightly differed between conditions: Whereas in
the match condition Robin's description included that Robin
likes rock music and is passionate about France, in particular
Paris, the parallel sentence in the no match condition read likes
rock music and is passionate about England, in particular
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
3
London (see Methodological Detail Appendix for full scenarios
of all studies).
After the scenario, participants answered five questions
about how much they appreciated the gift (adapted from Flynn
& Adams, 2009; Ward & Broniarczyk, 2011): How much
would you appreciate the gift?, How grateful would you feel
for the gift?, How thankful would you feel for the gift?,
How pleased would you feel about receiving the gift?, and
How much do you like the gift? Participants answered on a
7-point scale (1 = not at all, 7 = very much) and the items were
averaged into one appreciation index ( = .89). Additionally,
we measured the perceived congruence of the gift with Robin's
identity using three items (The gift reflects Robin's interests,
The gift is related to Robin's personality, and The gift
resembles Robin; 1 = not at all, 7 = very much; = .88).
Results and discussion
Supporting our hypothesis, gift appreciation positively
depended on whether the gift figuratively matched the giver
(See Table 1 for the main statistics of all studies). Participants
appreciated the Louvre mug more when Robin was passionate
about France (M = 5.83, SD = 1.10) than when Robin was
passionate about England (M = 5.27, SD = 0.97, t(71) =2.33,
p = .02, mean difference = 0.56, 0.08 b 95% CI b 1.04,
Cohen's d = 0.54). Moreover, the gift was perceived as more
congruent with the giver's identity in the match condition than in
the no match condition (M = 5.74, SD = 1.04 vs. M = 4.47,
SD = 1.52, t(71) = 4.151, p b .001, mean difference = 1.27,
0.67 b 95% CI b 1.87, Cohen's d = 0.97), and a bootstrapping
analysis with 5000 samples (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) showed that
perceived identity congruence mediated the effect of condition on
recipients' appreciation (b = 0.1970, .0002 b 95% CI b 0.4758).
Although the confidence interval barely excluded 0, the following
studies provide more solid evidence for the role of perceived
identity congruence.
These findings demonstrate that recipients like a gift more
when the gift figuratively matches the characteristics of the
giver, and suggest that this effect may be driven by recipients
perceiving the gift to be more congruent with the giver's
identity. An identity-congruence explanation implies that the
additional attractiveness of giver-matched gifts should not
depend on what recipients infer about the giver's motivations for
giving such a gift. In particular, recipients' increased appreciation
for giver-matched gifts should exist even when giver-matched
gifts do not signal any benevolent motivation (e.g., to make the
recipient knowledgeable of the giver's characteristics). To test
this, Study 2 employed a scenario in which givers offered both a
gift that matched the giver's characteristics and a gift that did not.
Study 2
In this study, participants expressed their preference between
two gift objects. We expected participants to be more attracted to
a gift when it matched the core characteristics of the giver than
when it did not.
4 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
Method
Three hundred two US residents recruited on Amazon
Mechanical Turk (Paolacci & Chandler, 2014; 39.7% females,
Mage = 29.65, SDage = 8.84) participated in this study in
exchange for $0.20. Participants read that their friend Robin had
moved and had left behind several items as gifts for friends,
including a print of the photograph NYTowers and Spotlights
(by Jerry Driendl) and a print of the photograph Sunbeams
through the trees (by Ross Hoddinott). The prints were listed in
this order without pictures. In a between-participant design,
participants read one of three slightly different descriptions of
Robin. In the urban (landscape) condition, the description
included Robin's passion for photographing urban sites (land-
scapes), i.e., Robin is passionate about photography, and
particularly about photographs of urban sites (landscapes).
Robin spends a lot of time taking photographs in urban areas
(of natural landscapes) and editing them. In the control
condition there was no reference to photography. After reading
the scenario, participants indicated which of the two prints they
would pick on a 9-point scale (1 = definitely Driendl's urban
photograph print, 9 = definitely Hoddinott's landscape pho-
tograph print). Additionally, participants rated the degree to
which the urban print and the landscape print were congruent
with Robin's identity (same measures as Study 1; = .90
and = .89, respectively). Theoretically, we expected prefer-
ence for the print across conditions to be mediated by how
congruent a print was with Robin's identity relative to the other
print. Accordingly, we subtracted the urban print congruence
rating from the landscape print congruence rating, and
obtained an index of how congruent with Robin's identity
was the landscape print relative to the urban print (a positive
congruency index indicating that the landscape print is perceived
as relatively more congruent with the giver's identity than the
urban print).
Results and discussion
Consistent with our proposition, participants were more
attracted to the landscape (urban) print when Robin was passionate
about photographing natural landscapes (urban sites). A one-way
ANOVA on relative print preference with condition as
independent variable (F(2, 299) = 4.00, p = .02) indeed
showed that participants' preferences for the landscape print
relative to the urban print were stronger in the landscape
condition than in the urban condition (M = 6.14, SD = 2.79 vs.
M = 5.02, SD = 2.91, t(299) = 2.78, p b .006, mean differ-
ence = 1.12, 0.33 b 95% CI b 1.91, Cohen's d = 0.39),
with preferences in the control condition falling in between
(M = 5.76, SD = 2.87; control vs. urban, t(299) = 1.83, p =
.068, mean difference = 0.74, 0.06 b 95% CI b 1.54,
Cohen's d = 0.26; landscape vs. control, t(299) = 0.94, p =
.348, mean difference = 0.38, 0.40 b 95% CI b 1,16, Cohen's
d = 0.13).
In addition, we looked at whether the effect of condition on
gift preference was explained by differences in the perceived
congruence with the giver's identity of one print relative to the
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
other. As predicted, the perceived congruence with the giver's
identity of the landscape print relative to the urban print was higher
in the landscape condition (M = 1.27, SD = 1.78) than in the
control condition (M = 0.03, SD = 1.15, t(299) = 5.10, p b .001,
mean difference = 1.24, 0.83 b 95% CI b 1.65, Cohen's d =
0.83) and lower in the urban condition (M = 1.72, SD = 2.11)
than in the control condition (t(299) = 7.17, p b .001, mean
difference = 1.75, 1.28 b 95% CI b 2.22, Cohen's d =1.03).
(Using a repeated measures analysis on the urban and
landscape congruency scores instead of combining these two
into a relative congruency index gives qualitatively identical
results.) A bootstrapping analysis with 5000 samples based
on a multicategorical approach (Hayes & Preacher, 2013)
showed that the relative congruency index mediated the effect
of condition on recipients' preferences for prints (urban vs.
control: b = 0.5244, 0.9119 b 95% CI b .1929; landscape
vs. control: b = 0.3710, 0.1338 b 95% CI b 0.6496).
In summary, the findings of Study 2 confirm that recipients
prefer gifts that match the giver because they perceive them as
more congruent with the giver's identity. Importantly, in this
study the giver merely left behind some objects as gifts
while moving to a different country, and offered both a gift
that matched the giver and a gift that did not. This suggests that
the preference for giver-matched gifts is not conditional on
inferences that recipients might make about the givers'
motivations that may be associated with the act of giving
such a gift.
Another potential explanation for the attractiveness of giver-
matched gifts follows from the function of gifts as reminders of
the giver (Areni, Kiecker, & Palan, 1998; Belk, Wallendorf, &
Sherry, 1989). If recipients prefer gifts that will remind them of
the giver, then the observed appreciation for giver-matched
gifts might depend on their particular strength as memory cues
for the giver. Study 3 tested the gifts-as-reminders account of
our effect by manipulating how recipients felt about the giver.
If recipients appreciate giver-matched gifts because these are
stronger reminders of the giver, then gift appreciation should
increase (relative to non-matched gifts) when the giver is a
close and liked friend but not when the giver is a disliked
person. On the contrary, our identity-congruence account
predicts that the valence of the relationship between the giver
and the gift has no influence on whether or not recipients are
more appreciative of gifts that match the giver. Because
identity-congruence is a characteristic that consumers inherently
value in their expressions and in those of others, gift recipients
should appreciate a giver-matched gift more independent of how
they feel about the giver.
Study 3
Similar to Study 1, participants in Study 3 read a scenario
about receiving a gift that figuratively matched the giver or not,
and indicated their appreciation for the gift. We tested whether
a gifts-as-reminders account can explain the increased appre-
ciation for a giver-matched gift by additionally manipulating
whether the giver was a close friend, an acquaintance, or a
disliked person.
 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
Method
One hundred eighty-three Dutch adults from the surround-
ings of the authors' institution participated voluntarily in this
online study (54.1% females, Mage = 35.96, SDage = 15.48).
Participants imagined being promoted to a new job position and
receiving a mouse pad with ancient tribal images of the
South-African Lemba tribe as a small gift from their friend
Robin. Participants were randomly assigned to one condition of
a 2 (match: match vs. no match) 3 (liking for the giver: good
friend vs. acquaintance vs. disliked person) between-participant
design. Across the six scenarios, we varied whether the gift
matched the giver or not (Robin described as originally
coming from South Africa and being passionate about
African music vs. coming from Scotland and being
passionate about Scottish music) and how recipients felt
about the giver (Robin presented as good and close friend of
yours vs. an acquaintance of yours vs. a person that you
really do not like). We measured gift appreciation and
perceived congruence of the gift with the giver's identity
using the same items as in Study 1 ( = .94 and = .90
respectively).
Results and discussion
Results supported our hypothesis that people like a gift
more when the gift matches the giver, independent of their
feelings towards the giver. A two-way ANOVA on gift
appreciation with match and liking for the giver as independent
variables showed a main effect of match (F(1, 177) = 15.09,
p b .01, mean difference = 0.89, 0.46 b 95% CI b 1.32,
Cohen's d = 0.59), such that the mouse pad was appreciated
more when Robin had South African roots (M = 4.76, SD =
1.43) than when Robin had Scottish roots (M = 3.87, SD =
1.57) (see Fig. 1). We also found a main effect of liking for the
giver (F(2, 177) = 14.40, p b .01), such that gifts received
from a good friend (M = 4.95, SD = 1.57) were appreciated
more than gifts received from an acquaintance (M = 4.45,
SD = 1.30, t(180) = 1.89, p = .06, mean difference = 0.50,
0.01 b 95% CI b 1.01, Cohen's d = 0.35), and gifts received
from an acquaintance were appreciated more than gifts
received from a disliked person (M = 3.51, SD = 1.47;
t(180) =3.56, p b .01, mean difference = 0.94, 0.45 b 95%
CI b 1.43, Cohen's d = 0.68). Importantly, we found no
interaction between match and liking for the giver (F b 1),
indicating that recipients' appreciation for matched gifts did
not depend on their feelings towards the giver. Simple
contrasts showed that matched gifts, relative to non-matched
gifts, were appreciated significantly more in the good friend
conditions (M = 5.26, SD = 1.55 vs. M = 4.53, SD = 1.54;
t(177) = 1.99, p = .047, mean difference = 0.73, 0.05 b 95%
CI b 1.51, Cohen's d = 0.47), marginally more in the acquain-
tance conditions (M =4.79, SD = 1.16 vs. M = 4.19, SD =1.36;
t(177) = 1.65, p =.10, mean difference = 0.60, 0.03 b 95%
CI b 1.23, Cohen's d = 0.47), and significantly more in the
disliked person conditions (M = 4.11, SD = 1.29; vs. M = 3.00,
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
5
7
6
5
4 Match
No match
3
2
1
Good friend Acquaintance Disliked person
Note: Error bars represent 1 standard error.
Fig. 1. Gift appreciation as a function of match and liking for the giver. Note:
Error bars represent 1 standard error.
SD = 1.44; t(177) = 3.09, p b .01, mean difference = 1.11,
0.42 b 95% CI b 1.80, Cohen's d = 0.82).
We tested whether perceived identity congruence (that was
higher in the match conditions than in the no match conditions,
M = 5.40, SD = 1.18 vs. M = 3.87, SD = 1.79, F(1, 177) =
43.57, p b .001, mean difference = 1.53, 1.09 b 95% CI b 1.97,
Cohen's d = 1.00) could explain the effect of match on recipients'
appreciation controlling for liking for the giver (we obtained the
same findings when we did not control for this variable). An
analysis with 5000 bootstrapped samples (Preacher & Hayes,
2008) showed that perceived identity congruence mediated
the effect of match on recipient's appreciation (b = 0.4117,
0.1603 b 95% CI b 0.7270).
Study 3 replicated the result that recipients appreciate a gift
more when it figuratively matches the giver, and showed that
this effect is not conditional on whether givers are liked. This
demonstrates that the attractiveness of gifts that figuratively
match the giver is not a byproduct of a preference for gifts
that are better reminders of liked givers. Moreover, Study 3
confirmed that the effect of a givergift match is mediated by
the perceived congruence of the gift with the giver's identity.
One question that is important from both a theoretical and a
practical perspective is whether recipients appreciate the match
between the gift and any characteristic, experience, or trait of
the giver, or whether matches need to concern core character-
istics of the giver that define the identity of the giver in
the recipient's eyes. Study 4 provides support for the latter
proposition.
Study 4
In Study 4 we manipulated between participants whether the
gift matched or did not match the country of origin of the giver.
Moreover, we included a third condition in which the gift
matched a less defining characteristic of the giver. We expected
that recipients would be more appreciative of a gift that
matched the giver only when the match concerned a core
characteristic of the identity of the giver.
6 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
Additionally, the no match between the gift and the giver in
this study was operationalized more clearly as lack of match
rather than mismatch. One could argue that gifts in our previous
no match conditions might be perceived as conflicting with
the giver's identity (e.g., a South Africa-related gift perceived as
conflicting with the identity of a person who is passionate about
Scotland), which might be possibly conducive to reacting
negatively to the gift. In Study 4 we removed potentially
mismatching aspects from our no match condition, showing more
clearly that increased appreciation for a giver-matched gift can
result from positive reactions compared to when a match is
absent.
Method
Three hundred US residents recruited on Amazon Mechanical
Turk (35.0% females, Mage = 29.64, SDage = 9.64) participated
in this study in exchange for $0.20. Participants read a similar
scenario to Study 3 in which they imagined receiving a mouse
pad with ancient tribal images of the South-African Lemba tribe.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions.
In the core match condition, Robin was described as originally
coming from South Africa and being passionate about African
music. In the non-core match condition, Robin's description
included Robin is very passionate about soccer and these days is
very looking forward to the next World Cup (Robin still loves to
talk about the last World Cup in South Africa). Conceptually,
the non-core match condition differs from the core match
condition because the match between the giver and the gift
concerns an incidental descriptor of Robin (that the last World
Cup took place in South Africa) rather than a core characteristic
of Robin's identity (Robin's origins). Finally, the no match
condition did not include any mention of Robin's origins or
passions, thus avoiding any reference that could be perceived as
(congruent or) incongruent with Robin's identity. We hypothe-
sized that participants would be more appreciative of the mouse
pad in the core match condition than in the no match condition.
On the contrary, we expected no increase in appreciation for the
mouse pad when the match concerned a non-core descriptor of
Robin relative to the no match condition. Gift appreciation and
identity congruence were measured using the same items as in
Study 1 ( = .92 and = .89, respectively).
Results
A one-way ANOVA with gift appreciation as dependent
variable revealed an effect of condition (F(2, 297) = 6.41, p =
.002). Consistent with our hypotheses and our previous results, gift
appreciation was higher in the core match condition than in the no
match condition (M = 5.64, SD = 1.08 vs. M = 5.03, SD = 1.45,
t(297) = 3.35, p = .001, mean difference = 0.61, 0.26 b 95%
CI b 0.96, Cohen's d = 0.48). On the contrary, gift appreciation
was not higher in the non-core match condition (M = 5.13, SD =
1.34) than in the no match condition (t(297) = 0.554, p = .580,
mean difference = 0.10, 0.29 b 95% CI b 0.49, Cohen's d =
0.07), confirming that the match between the gift and the giver
needs to concern core characteristics of the giver for appreciation
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
to be increased relative to when no match is present. Gift
appreciation was higher in the core match condition than in
the non-core match condition (t(297) = 2.76, p = .006, mean
difference = 0.51, 0.17 b 95% CI b 0.85, Cohen's d = 0.42).
Perceived congruence between the gift and Robin's identity
was higher in the core match condition (M = 6.16, SD = 0.97)
than in both the no match condition (M = 5.11, SD = 1.14;
t(297) = 6.36, p b .001, mean difference = 1.05, 0.76 b 95%
CI b 1.34, Cohen's d = 0.99) and the non-core match condi-
tion (M = 5.45, SD = 1.38; t(297) = 4.245, p b .001, mean
difference = 0.71, 0.38 b 95% CI b 1.04, Cohen's d = 0.60).
A bootstrapping analysis with 5000 samples based on a
multicategorical approach (Hayes & Preacher, 2013) confirmed
that perceived congruence between the gift and Robin's identity
mediated the effect of matching the core characteristics of the
giver on recipients' appreciation (core match vs. non-core match:
b = 0.1949, 0.3671 b 95% CI b .0846; core match vs. no
match: b = 0.2890, 0.4802 b 95% CI b 0.1348).
Study 4 replicated our previous findings using a no match
condition that did not include information that could potentially be
perceived as conflicting with the giver's identity. This highlights
that the effect derives from an increased appreciation for a gift that
matches the giver's characteristics as opposed to a decreased
appreciation for a gift that mismatches the giver's characteristics.
Moreover, we show that in order to be particularly attractive to
recipients, gifts need to match a core characteristic of the giver. A
gift that matches a non-core descriptor of the giver is not perceived
as an expression that is particularly congruent with the giver's
identity, and therefore does not result in increased appreciation. As
we elaborate in the General Discussion, this finding represents a
first step towards a more thorough understanding of the nature
of the match between gifts and givers that is appreciated by
recipients.
General discussion
Early research on gift giving highlighted the role of gifts as a
tool that allows givers to express their identities (Belk, 1976;
Schwartz, 1967). We explored the consequences of doing so for
recipients' appreciation, and thus focused on a neglected driver
of recipients' satisfaction with the gifts they receivethe
relationship between the giver and the gift. Four studies showed
that gift recipients like a gift more when the gift figuratively
matches the giver, i.e., when it contains references to the giver's
characteristics. This tendency is not conditional on whether or
not the giver intentionally selected a giver-matched gift for the
recipient (Study 2) or on whether or not the giver is a liked
person (Study 3), but depends on the gift matching core
characteristics as opposed to incidental descriptors of the giver
(Study 4). In all of our studies, we found mediation evidence
that giver-matched gifts are appreciated more because they are
perceived as more congruent with the giver's identity.
We grounded our findings in an identity-based motivation
framework (Oyserman, 2009). Consumers are consistently moti-
vated to express their identity, or the identity of the people they
would like to become, in their product choices. We have shown
in a gift-giving context that people's inherent preference for
 G. Paolacci et al. / Journal of Consumer Psychology xx, x (2015) xxxxxx
identity-congruence deploys not only when people choose their
own actions and expressions, but also when they evaluate other
people's actions and expressions. Future research should delve
more deeply into this possibility and investigate the general
circumstances in which consumers expect congruence between
other people's identities and expressions, and the consequences
that observing such congruence (or the lack thereof) may have for
interpersonal judgments and relationships. Importantly, we tested
our hypothesis using identities (e.g., country of origin) that are
chronically salient. Additional research should investigate whether
our results generalize to identities of the actor that are typically
activated only in specific situations (Oyserman, 2009). More
generally, it is critical to understand which dimensions of the
actor's identity are expected by the observer to be reflected in the
actor's expressions, and whether such expectations are matched by
the actor's actual choices.
Importantly, preference for identity-congruent gifts may be
culturally dependent. Research has demonstrated that East Asians
maintain a positive self-concept by seeking interpersonal harmony,
something that is easier to achieve by being flexible with respect to
the environment rather than by being congruent with one's identity
(Markus & Kitayama, 1994). As a result, East Asian consumers do
not value consistency in others' self-concepts as much as North
Americans do (Heine, 2001; Suh, 2002), suggesting that gifts that
match the giver may not be particularly appreciated relative to gifts
that do not. Moreover, recent research on gift giving suggested
that Asians are more likely to attribute gift giving to self-serving
motives than North Americans (Shen, Wan, & Wyer, 2011). Gifts
that match the characteristics of the giver may exacerbate these
attributions, ultimately translating into lower gift appreciation.
Future research should explore the cultural antecedents of
recipients' preferences for gifts that match the giver.
Notwithstanding the many open questions, our research
already has actionable implications for gift giving. Previous
research has documented several instances in which people
overly focus on themselves when attempting to predict others'
reactions (Epley, Keysar, Van Boven, & Gilovich, 2004).
Egocentric biases might underlie several tendencies among
gift givers that ultimately translate into suboptimal recipient
happiness, such as privileging gift attributes like monetary
value and exclusivity (Flynn & Adams, 2009; Teigen, Olsen, &
Solas, 2005) and stigmatizing regifting (Adams, Flynn, &
Norton, 2012). The present research, however, documents a
route for givers to make recipients happy that does not rely on
correctly predicting recipients' preferences, and suggests that
some egocentrism might in fact be beneficial. By gifting people
with objects that match their own, core characteristics, givers
can increase recipients' appreciation, due to recipients valuing
the congruence of the gift with the giver's identity. This result
holds across different relationships between the giver and the
recipient (e.g., when they are acquaintances), suggesting that
such strategy might prove particularly valuable when the giver
lacks information about the recipient's tastes.
A practical aspect to investigate is the conditions under
which givers should privilege matching gifts with their own
characteristics rather than with the recipients'. Including
recipients' likes and tastes in gifts has positive effects on gift
Please cite this article as: Paolacci, G., et al., Give me your self: Gifts are liked more when they match the giver's characteristics, Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006
7
appreciation (Gino & Flynn, 2011; Ruth et al., 1999), and our
research certainly does not imply that givers should neglect the
characteristics of the recipients. The goal of this article was to
isolate the positive effect of matching the gift and the giver. When
tradeoffs exist between matching the gift with the giver or with
the recipient, which strategy is more appropriate might depend on
characteristics of the giverrecipient relationship. Importantly, in
such situations the cultural qualifications of our proposition may
be even stronger, as in certain cultures adjusting to others is
normatively prescribed (e.g., East Asian, Markus & Kitayama,
1994).
Finally, future research should overcome the limitations
inherent in this short article. Our methodological choices
reflected the goal of providing clean evidence of our proposed
effect and mechanism. Whereas scenario studies in which the
giver's description was manipulated allowed us to isolate the
effects of matching the gift with the giver, real gift exchanges
or surveys of previous experiences would speak to the real-
world prevalence of our findings. Moreover, using simple gifts
with merely aesthetic manipulations made for a conservative
test of our effects. However, future research should explore
the attractiveness of matching the giver with gifts of higher
monetary or symbolic value, and employ richer characteriza-
tions of the giver's identity.
Conclusion
Research in gift giving has traditionally emphasized the need
for givers to accurately predict recipients' tastes. We have shown
that recipients' appreciation for a gift also depends on whether the
gift matches the giver: Givers can increase recipients' happiness
by choosing gifts that contain references to their own character-
istics, because such gifts are perceived as more identity-
congruent. Future research should investigate how givers should
balance the goals of matching the gift with their own and
recipients' identities, whether the preference we documented
for products that are congruent with other people's identity
generalize outside gift giving, and whether cultural differences
qualify such results.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.01.006.
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