Gift-giving among adolescents: Exploring motives, the effects of givers' personal characteristics and the use of impression management tactics

Purpose: Previous research on impression management explored motives, the use of impression management tactics and the influence of personality characteristics on the tendency to engage in impression management. The purposes of this research are to examine gift-giving behavior among adolescents based on the building blocks of impression management theory, the ways that personality characteristics motivate gift-givers to engage in active and defensive impression management and how the use of impression management tactics (i.e. similarity-conformity and target-enhancement) are reflected in their gift-giving behavior. Design/methodology/approach: A convenience sample of 141 adolescences was used in a quantitative study. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to adolescents of different ages (13-16), with students from diverse social strata. Students were asked to recall a recent peer gift-giving experience and to refer to it when answering the questions which covered motives for gift-giving, personality characteristics, and the characteristics of the gift. Findings: The authors' study shows that personality characteristics such as public self-consciousness, self-monitoring, and self-esteem are positively related with gift-giving motives. Additionally, gift-giving motives are positively related with the use of similarity-conformity and target-enhancement tactics. Finally, the use of impression management tactics reflects adolescents' special characteristics, such as their tendency towards conformism, important role of peers in their lives, and their high need to protect and nurture these social resources. Originality/value: This research explored the instrumental role of gift-giving among adolescents and contributes to the existing literatures on gift-giving, impression management, and adolescents' consumer behavior.