The focus of this study is the consumer behaviour habits of adults giving of toys to children aged 11 and under as gifts. It is borne out of a need to understand why adults buy gifts for children adding to the issues on consumption practices and materialism. It begins by discussing the issues of researching with children, outlining an exploratory artwork session conducted with children prior to making a decision to use adults as the unit of assessment for the study and to take a positivist stance. The literature review chapter explores the concepts of gift-giving of toys to children by synthesising topics of consumer behaviour and gift-giving as fields of study. It considers gift-giving models and focuses on buyer behaviour when gift-giving; information sources used in gifting; whether adults are concerned about gift-giving; adults roles and motivations in gift-gifting and relationship impacts between adults and children for incorrect gifting. These themes are researched within a demographic perspective keeping in mind the consumer socialisation issues and a figure is developed to show the hypotheses for testing. The methodology takes into account both interpretivist and positivist philosophies reaffirming the reasons for a positivist choice. Semi structured interviews are used in two phases to explore adults perceptions of gift-giving in general and gift-giving of toys to children. The main data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire which developed and extended previous researchers’ items. This questionnaire was distributed across a sample section of schools within the Aberdeen City and suburbs via a homework bag method. The value of the study lies in the contribution to knowledge through the analysis of the data. Contribution was found to exist with roles and motivations in gifting where three new roles were highlighted and one discounted. For information sources the interpersonal sources were important to mothers; the internet was found to be a new source, and mass media was found to be popular with a lower educated strata giving rise to issues for TV advertising policy. Differences existed between gifting at Christmas and birthday times and to adults’ own and other children providing contribution to the lack of birthday gifting research and to the givers’ perspective. A number of demographics such as gender, education and marital status were found to be important in understanding this gifting behaviour, whereas age on the other hand, did not. Finally, recommendations are made to policy makers from these contributions in particular regarding information sources and the education of children.

<p>This thesis contributes to the knowledge of how computer-mediated communication and information sharing works in large groups and networks. In more detail, the research question put forward is: in large sharing networks, what concerns do end-users have regarding to whom to provide material? A theoretical framework of gift-giving was applied to identify, label and classify qualitative end-user concerns with provision. The data collection was performed through online ethnographical research methods in two large sharing networks, one music-oriented and one photo-oriented. The methods included forum message elicitation, online interviews, application use and observation. The result of the data collection was a total of 1360 relevant forum messages. A part from this there are also 27 informal interview logs, field notes and samples of user profiles and sharing policies. The qualitative analysis led up to a model of relationships based on the observation that many users experienced conflicts of interest between various groups of receivers and that these conflicts, or social dilemmas, evoked concerns regarding public and non-public provision of material. The groups of potential recipients were often at different relationship levels. The levels ranged from the individual (ego), to the small group of close peers (micro), to a larger network of acquaintances (meso) to the anonymous larger network (macro). It is argued that an important focal point for analysis of cooperation and conflict is situated in the relations between these levels. Deepened studies and analysis also revealed needs to address dynamic recipient groupings, the need to control the level of publicness of both digital material and its metadata (tags, contacts, comments and links to other networks) and that users often refrained from providing material unless they felt able to control its direction. A central conclusion is that public and non-public gifting need to co-emerge in large sharing networks and that non-public gifting might be an important factor for the support of continued provision of goods in sustainable networks and communities.</p>

Essay 1: Traffic research shares a fundamental dilemma with other areas of empirical research in which humans are potentially put at risk. Research is justified because it can improve safety in the long run. Nevertheless, people can be harmed in the research situation. Hence, we need to balance short-term risks against long-term safety improvements, much as in other areas of research with human subjects. In this paper we focus on ethical issues that arise when human beings are directly affected in the performance of research by examining how the ethical requirements in biomedical research can inform traffic research. After introducing the basic ethical requirements on biomedical research, each of the major requirements is discussed in relation to traffic research. We identify the main areas where biomedical research and traffic research differ, and where the ethical requirements from the former cannot easily be transferred to the latter. We then point to some of the issues that need to be addressed for a systematic approach to the ethics of traffic research. Essay 2: The requirement of always obtaining participants’ informed consent in research with human subjects cannot always be met, for a variety of reasons. In this paper, research situations where informed consent is unobtainable are described and categorised. Some of these kinds of situations, common in biomedicine and psychology, have been previously much discussed, whereas others, more prevalent in for example infrastructure research, introduce new perspectives. The advancement of new technology may lead to an increase in research of these kinds. The paper also provides a review of methods intended to compensate for a lack of consent and their applicability and usefulness for the different categories of situations are discussed, thereby providing insights into one important aspect of relevance for the question of permitting research without informed consent: how well that which informed consent is meant to safeguard can be achieved by other means. Essay 3: This paper starts with the assumption that it is morally problematic when people in need are offered money in exchange for research participation if the amount offered is unfair. Such offers are called “coercive”, and the degree of coerciveness is said to be determined by the offer’s potential to cause exploitation and its irresistibility. Depending on what view we take on the possibility to compensate for the sacrifices made by research participants, a wish to avoid “coercive offers” leads to policy recommendations concerning payment for participation. For sacrifices considered compensable we ought to offer either no payment or payment at a level deemed fair, while for sacrifices deemed incompensable we always ought to offer no payment. Essay 4: It is commonly thought that transactions that are the result of voluntary gift-giving do not constitute exploitation. This paper argues that exploitation is indeed possible in such situations, by showing how gift-giving can fulfil the two commonly proposed criteria for exploitation, namely that in an interaction between two persons one receives disproportionally little and the other disproportionally much of the resulting benefits, and that this disproportion is caused by the latter making inappropriate use of a disadvantage of the former. A theoretical approach to what such inappropriate use would amount to in cases of gift-giving is lacking. The paper therefore aims at spelling out such an approach. The method of reflective equilibrium inspires this endeavour, which proceeds by testing intuitions about examples that embody a set of possible conditions. It is concluded that three of the conditions are necessary for exploitation of gift-giving, namely (1) the giver incurs a loss, (2) the recipient has aimed for the gift, and (3) the gift is undeserved. / <p>QC 20140407</p>

This dissertation examines the role one aspect of the Jaina tradition plays in a globalized world in the 21st century vis-a-vis an economically viable, socially just, and ecologically sustainable society. I address this by means of an in-depth study of dana (giving, gifting, charity) and dhyana (meditation) conducting a case study of preksadhyana, a form of meditation developed by the Terapanth, a Svetambara Jaina sect, in 1975 and their stance on dana. These practices, the Terapanth claim, are transformative on an individual and societal level. I argue that while preksadhyana’s spiritually transformative influence remains narrowly circumscribed to the individual level, nevertheless it allows the Terapanth to participate in the booming economy of the transnational yoga market. Yet, as my analyses of their historically controversial position on dana vis-a-vis the Jaina position on dana and the recent change in this position within the Terapanth reveal, their ability to transform the world is limited to their own community. I explore, through participation/observation, how preksadhyana as a performative ritual brings an individual closer to spiritual liberation, and attempt to demonstrate how the Terapanth construct this practice as a form of modern yoga by using authoritative discourses of science and scripture. I conclude by offering some final iii thoughts on how successful the Terapanth are in their dissemination of preksadhyana to a global audience and what role the authoritative discourses of science and scripture play in the evaluation and/or erosion of Jaina theology.

This dissertation examines the role one aspect of the Jaina tradition plays in a globalized world in the 21st century vis-a-vis an economically viable, socially just, and ecologically sustainable society. I address this by means of an in-depth study of dana (giving, gifting, charity) and dhyana (meditation) conducting a case study of preksadhyana, a form of meditation developed by the Terapanth, a Svetambara Jaina sect, in 1975 and their stance on dana. These practices, the Terapanth claim, are transformative on an individual and societal level. I argue that while preksadhyana’s spiritually transformative influence remains narrowly circumscribed to the individual level, nevertheless it allows the Terapanth to participate in the booming economy of the transnational yoga market. Yet, as my analyses of their historically controversial position on dana vis-a-vis the Jaina position on dana and the recent change in this position within the Terapanth reveal, their ability to transform the world is limited to their own community. I explore, through participation/observation, how preksadhyana as a performative ritual brings an individual closer to spiritual liberation, and attempt to demonstrate how the Terapanth construct this practice as a form of modern yoga by using authoritative discourses of science and scripture. I conclude by offering some final iii thoughts on how successful the Terapanth are in their dissemination of preksadhyana to a global audience and what role the authoritative discourses of science and scripture play in the evaluation and/or erosion of Jaina theology.

The objective of this theses is to explore the development of gift-giving in Czech Republic after the velvet revolution in 1989. First part of the theses deals with the theoretical basis of altruism and philanthropy. The gift-giving explored in the theses is viewed as a specific case when the beneficient does not know the beneficiary. This specific case is then discussed with the theoretical aspect of altruism and philanthropy. Further on the civil society and its connection to the gift-giving is observed and the role of the foundations in czech society reflected. The analysis of the gift-giving is provided in the second part of the theses, based on the financial history of four czech foundations. A clear cut trend is not obvious, thus some other aspects coming out of the analysis are accented.

This thesis contributes to the knowledge of how computer-mediated communication and information sharing works in large groups and networks. In more detail, the research question put forward is: in large sharing networks, what concerns do end-users have regarding to whom to provide material? A theoretical framework of gift-giving was applied to identify, label and classify qualitative end-user concerns with provision. The data collection was performed through online ethnographical research methods in two large sharing networks, one music-oriented and one photo-oriented. The methods included forum message elicitation, online interviews, application use and observation. The result of the data collection was a total of 1360 relevant forum messages. A part from this there are also 27 informal interview logs, field notes and samples of user profiles and sharing policies. The qualitative analysis led up to a model of relationships based on the observation that many users experienced conflicts of interest between various groups of receivers and that these conflicts, or social dilemmas, evoked concerns regarding public and non-public provision of material. The groups of potential recipients were often at different relationship levels. The levels ranged from the individual (ego), to the small group of close peers (micro), to a larger network of acquaintances (meso) to the anonymous larger network (macro). It is argued that an important focal point for analysis of cooperation and conflict is situated in the relations between these levels. Deepened studies and analysis also revealed needs to address dynamic recipient groupings, the need to control the level of publicness of both digital material and its metadata (tags, contacts, comments and links to other networks) and that users often refrained from providing material unless they felt able to control its direction. A central conclusion is that public and non-public gifting need to co-emerge in large sharing networks and that non-public gifting might be an important factor for the support of continued provision of goods in sustainable networks and communities.

Gift exchange is at the heart of many social relationships and interactions. Various studies haveimplied that gift-giving is often based on the obligation to reciprocate, thus creating an economicexchange. The common components of gift-giving are the gift, the giver and the receiver, and theoccasion. Many studies have suggested various motives and functions for gift-giving. It is wellknown that the custom of gift-giving is an important part of Japanese culture. However, no researchis found regarding Finnish gift-giving behavior. In an effort to understand more about the diversegift exchange phenomenon, this study compares Japanese and Finnish gift-giving behavior. The aimis to examine the motivations and functions, and how the cultural values are reflected in gift-givingbehavior in both countries. For this purpose, two online surveys are conducted for both Japaneseand Finnish people. The findings are then compared with each other as well as with previousstudies. The results reveal that gift-giving behavior is relatively similar in both Japan and Finland inmany aspects, and the findings are mostly consistent with previous studies. It also seems thatwomen are a little more involved in gift-giving both in Japan and Finland.

<p>  </p> <p>The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of purchasing purposes and country of origin on consumer’s purchasing intentions for sparkling wine, considering the effect of consumer’s value perceptions on the product. Two study populations were investigated: general U.S. wine consumers and self-identified food and beverage practitioners. It was found that for the general U.S. wine consumers, buying wine for gift giving or self-gifting would result in different purchasing intention and perceived emotional-social value, but Country of Origin (e.g., French Champagne or U.S. Sparkling Wine) did not result in any differences in purchasing intentions or perceived values. The practitioner group did not note any significant differences  between scenarios given the purchasing purposes and country of origin on their purchasing intentions and perceived values. Correlations of perceived emotional-social value, perceived price value and purchasing intention were found. Several practical and theoretical implications were presented. </p>

In two essays I investigate two antecedents of self-concept change in consumers: Threats to the self and the activated self-construal and its effect on goal conflict resolution. In the first essay, I explore identity strictly as consumers define themselves in terms of the possessions with which they associate. I argue that ironically the very effort to maintain self-consistency through living up to the value of materialism after facing a mortality salience threat can actually undermine consistency on the level of the extended self of highly materialistic consumers. Specifically, when faced with a mortality salience threat, the consistency of highly materialistic consumers self-concept is disrupted in which they not only detach from formerly intrinsic possessions, but also make formerly extrinsic possessions a more central part of the extended self-concept. I further argue that consumers can be protected from a disruption to self-concept consistency through the process of self-affirmation. In the second essay, I explore how the activated self-construal impacts whether consumers maximize pleasure or engage in self-presentational behavior after they have been invited to choose a gift for themselves. I demonstrate that consumers with an independent (interdependent) self-construal make more indulgent (modest) gift choices for themselves, and that this effect is driven by the activation of a goal to maximize pleasure (behave normatively appropriate). I also identify a boundary condition: When consumers are able to satisfy their activated goal before selecting a gift, the effects cease to exist. / Marketing