Articles
Self-congruity in the purchase behavior of floral gifts
Article number
1278_18
Pages
117 – 122
Language
English
Abstract
Flowers have been symbolized with various metaphors, and thus have been used very often as a gift for building social relationships, in particular for the initiation or maintenance of a romantic relationship.
As gifts are part of the self of the giver, whether the giver can be identified by the gift becomes critical for gift purchase decisions.
Therefore, how to increase the identification capability of flowers for givers personality is critical for the success of promoting flowers as gifts.
Based on the theory of consumer self-congruity, consumers tend to buy the products that have characteristics consistent with their personality.
However, there are various self-concepts that individuals have for themselves, including actual self, ideal self, and social self.
Which self-concept is critical for consumers purchase decision for floral gifts needs to be identified for making flowers more capable in presenting the givers personality in romantic gift giving.
There were three objectives for this study: 1) to examine weather self-congruity happens in the purchase of romantic floral gifts; 2) to examine the context of self-concept that influences consumer purchase decisions for floral gifts.
In this study, three focus group interviews and 261 questionnaires were administered to achieve the study goals.
The study results help in constructing the characteristics for floral gifts to satisfy givers needs in self-presentation for building romantic relationships.
The study results indicated that consumers have imagination to flower givers personality in eight different traits, and the personality imagination is more close to consumers self-concept about their actual self and ideal self, but not the concept of social self.
As gifts are part of the self of the giver, whether the giver can be identified by the gift becomes critical for gift purchase decisions.
Therefore, how to increase the identification capability of flowers for givers personality is critical for the success of promoting flowers as gifts.
Based on the theory of consumer self-congruity, consumers tend to buy the products that have characteristics consistent with their personality.
However, there are various self-concepts that individuals have for themselves, including actual self, ideal self, and social self.
Which self-concept is critical for consumers purchase decision for floral gifts needs to be identified for making flowers more capable in presenting the givers personality in romantic gift giving.
There were three objectives for this study: 1) to examine weather self-congruity happens in the purchase of romantic floral gifts; 2) to examine the context of self-concept that influences consumer purchase decisions for floral gifts.
In this study, three focus group interviews and 261 questionnaires were administered to achieve the study goals.
The study results help in constructing the characteristics for floral gifts to satisfy givers needs in self-presentation for building romantic relationships.
The study results indicated that consumers have imagination to flower givers personality in eight different traits, and the personality imagination is more close to consumers self-concept about their actual self and ideal self, but not the concept of social self.
Authors
Li-Chun Huang
Keywords
flowers, gifts, gift giving, symbolic consumption, self-concept
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