IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jconrs/v25y1999i4p385-402.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gift Receipt and the Reformulation of Interpersonal Relationships

Author

Listed:
  • Ruth, Julie A
  • Otnes, Cele C
  • Brunel, Frederic F

Abstract

Sherry (1983) defines reformulation as the final stage of gift exchange, during which a newly presented gift can impact the relationship between giver and recipient. To date no one has examined exactly how gifts can affect relationships or what aspects of gift exchange contribute to realignment of the giver/recipient relationship. Using depth interviews and critical-incident surveys, our study explores how the recipient's perceptions of the existing relationship, the gift, the ritual context, and his or her emotional reactions converge to affect relationship realignment. We identify six relational effects of gift-receipt experiences. Further, we examine gift-receipt experiences that have a consistent impact in the short and long term, and those where the meanings and relational effects appear to change over time. Implications for future research are also discussed. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruth, Julie A & Otnes, Cele C & Brunel, Frederic F, 1999. "Gift Receipt and the Reformulation of Interpersonal Relationships," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(4), pages 385-402, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:25:y:1999:i:4:p:385-402
    DOI: 10.1086/209546
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/209546
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/209546?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:25:y:1999:i:4:p:385-402. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jcr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.