Gifting digital versus physical gift cards: How and why givers and recipients have different preferences for a gift card's mode of delivery

Abstract

We explore the psychology involved with giving and receiving gift cards by studying givers' and recipients' preferences for digital versus physical gift cards. Across five studies, we demonstrate that givers are less likely to choose digital (vs. physical) gift cards than recipients are to prefer to receive them. The data suggest that this asymmetry occurs, in part, because givers overestimate the extent to which recipients see digital (vs. physical) gift cards as violating the social norms of gift-giving. Indeed, givers' aversion to digital gift cards attenuates when they are less likely to perceive digital (vs. physical) gift cards as violating gift-giving norms and when they are less attentive to such norms. This research adds to the gift-giving literature by offering an initial foray into the tradeoff between digital and physical gifts, demonstrating a new instance in which givers' and recipients' preferences diverge, and documenting an underlying cause and boundary conditions of this asymmetry.