Luiza Gaysina

Scholars in the marketing field have shown a high level of interest in consumer gift-giving behaviour over the past decades after the first article devoted to this topic appeared in a major consumer behaviour journal in the mid-1970s (Belk, 1976). Some work has highlighted cultural influences on gift-giving (Beatty, Kahle and Homer, 1991; Chen and Rau, 2016; Hudik and Fang, 2019) that shed light on the cultural facet of this complex phenomenon.

Another tendency that is evident in the development of marketing theory is the growing emphasis on the active role of the consumer as a resource integrator (McColl-Kennedy, Vargo, Dagger, Sweeney & Van Kasteren, 2012; Piacentini, Hibbert & Hogg, 2014). It has been argued that individuals make consumption choices drawing on social, cultural, physical and economic assets they have at their disposal (Arnould, Price and Malshe, 2006).

This doctoral research brings together these two areas of inquiry. Employing the leans of emerging consumer-resource theory, it seeks to investigate how London and Moscow consumers use their resources in the gift card gifting context. The gift card gifting context can encompass a wide range of scenarios as gift cards can be exchanged between two individuals and groups, between people engaged in close or formal relationships. This research study focuses on scenarios involving two parties – gift card donor and recipient – connected by interpersonal relationships.