Consumer self-gifts in achievement contexts: the role of outcomes, attributions, emotions, and deservingness

Research on consumers' gifts to themselves has been mainly exploratory and descriptive. Toward more theoretical understanding, we conducted an experiment on self-gift behavior as it is precipitated by everyday achievement tasks. We manipulated (1) achievement outcomes (success/failure) and (2) consumers' explanations for those outcomes (attributions) to examine their effects on self-gift likelihood. We also measured emotions and deservingness as potential mediators. Results showed that self-gifts are more likely following successes; however, depending on whether the attribution is to an internal versus external cause, the levels of self-gift likelihood within successful and failed contexts are reversed. Also, happiness, pride, confidence, and deservingness mediated a substantial amount of these effects. Discussion focuses on implications for self-gift theory, attribution research, and the marketing management of consumer self-gift behavior. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.