The Asymmetry Of Giving-receiving Gift In College Students' Preferences: From Construal Level Theory Perspective

The Construal Level Theory(CLT)which proposed by Liberman and Trope is kind of a social cognitive theory.The central contention of CLT is that explains how psychological distances influence the individual's thoughts and decisions.It argues that people's interpretation of events will change with the perception of psychological distance(time distance,social distance,space distance,hypothesis)of the events,and thus finally impress people's behavioral reactions to those events.Recently,the construal level theory was widely accepted and used in researches of consumer field.In the current research,on the foundation of the CLT and by adopting situational questionnaire and scenario simulation as research methods,we address the question of how gender and the giver--recipients roles influence gifts choices of college students through five multi-factor between subject's experiments.The results of five experiments were showed as follows:(1)There was an gift preference asymmetry in that gender difference and the different roles as a gift's givers or recipients.As givers,males prefer giving a female or a male an instrumental gift;meanwhile as recipients,males are more likely to receive an instrumental gift from a female or a male.Females,as givers,prefer giving a female or a male an expressional gift;as recipients,they prefer receiving an expression gift from a female;However,they favor for any gifts as long as the gift giving by a male.(2)Social distance influences the gift preference asymmetry.In the socially proximal condition,as both gifts givers and gift recipients,males prefer instrumental gifts;Females prefer an instrumental gift as gift givers,while prefer an expression gift as gift recipients.In the social distal condition,as both gifts givers and gift recipients,males generally prefer an instrumental gift;Females generally prefer an expression gift.(3)Space distance influences the gift preference asymmetry.In the spatially near condition,as givers,males prefer giving a male an instrumental gift;males prefer giving a female an expressional gift.Males,as gift recipients,prefer receiving an instrumental gift from male,while have a tendency to like an instrumental gift from female.Females,as gift givers,prefer giving females expression gifts,while have a tendency to prefer giving males instrumental gifts.Females as gift recipients prefer receiving females expression gifts,while have a tendency to prefer receiving males expression gifts.In the spatially far condition,males have a tendency to prefer an instrumental gift as gift givers no matter gifts were to male or female.Males,as gift recipients,have a tendency to prefer receiving an instrumental gift from female,while like an instrumental gift from male.Females have a tendency to prefer.an expression gift as gift givers no matter gifts were to male or female.Females,as gift recipients,have a tendency to prefer receiving an expression gift from female,while like an instrumental gift from male.Theoretically,the current study extends the application of construal level theory,deepens the upstanding of consumer psychology,and provides an innovative perspectives and methods for consumer behavior research,especially that establishing a new paradigm of consumer attitude researches.Practically,the current research reveals the relationship between consumers and products in a specific situation,which provide clear marketing direction for marketers,thus enlightening the marketers to how adopt appropriate marketing strategies based on the different time,situations and circumstances.