Giving pleasure or avoiding risk: how social closeness shapes givers’ gift choice

Purpose Deciding gifts for recipients at different levels of intimacy is a common choice consumers face. The present research examines how social closeness affects givers’ gift choice from the perspective of risky decision-making. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a total of five studies (an implicit association test and four studies), collecting data from 737 consumers online and offline, and gradually verified the relationship between social closeness and givers’ gift choice and the psychological mechanism. Findings The research results reveal that givers preferred hedonic gifts over utilitarian gifts when choosing gifts for socially close recipients than distant recipients. This effect is driven by beliefs that hedonic gifts inherently expect givers to know the recipient’s preference better, otherwise there will be higher anxiety levels about giving a mismatched gift. Furthermore, this effect is stronger when givers employ communal relationship norms. Originality/value Our research proposes a new perspective on understanding the psychological process involved in consumers’ gift-choice behavior and offers implications for marketing practice in the gift industry.