In recent years, some researchers have started examining the existence of crosscultural self-gifting, as well as its place in consumers' lives, according to an individual-centred versus a group-centred view of self. Nevertheless, inconsistent findings of prior research call for further studies clarifying the role of self-view in self-gift consumption. This study thus attempted to fill this gap by examining ethnic immigrant consumer groups' self-gifting behaviours in comparison to White host members in the UK. Furthermore, the increasing size and growing spending power of ethnic minority groups, varying acculturation processes, and different self-views together highlight a need for a better understanding of how the self-gift phenomenon might vary between Whites and South Asian immigrants in the UK. Thus, the primary objective of this research was to examine the differences and similarities in self-gift attitudes and behaviours between British Whites and South Asian immigrants (British Indians, British Pakistanis, and British Bangladeshis). This research is theoretically grounded in the literature from three domains - namely, ethnicity, attitudinal and behavioural dimensions of acculturation and self-construal - to investigate the ethnic groups' self-gift attitudes and behaviours and to explore the interaction effects among these three domains on self-gifting. Data collected utilising a survey method provided evidence to support the prominence of self-gifting amongst British consumers, including the three ethnic minority groups. The findings also indicated some similarities and differences in self-gifting of these ethnic groups in terms of their ethnicity, acculturation, and selfconstrual. Although the main findings suggested that British Whites and South Asian immigrants do not differ in most self-gift attitudes and behaviours, South Asian immigrants who attitudinally acculturate in both host and home cultures are more likely to engage in self-gifting than immigrants who only have high attitudinal acculturation in either the host or the home culture, or who have low attitudinal acculturation in both cultures. In addition, Strong behavioural acculturating immigrants are more likely to engage in self-gifting than Weak behavioural acculturating immigrants. The results from combined White and South Asian samples demonstrated that individuals who hold equally high independent and interdependent self-views are more likely to engage in self-gifting than individuals 11 who hold either high independent self-views or high interdependent self-views only, or who hold low self-views in both categories. However, the impacts of accultUration and self-construal on self-gift attitudes and behaviours may differ depending on ethnicity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:508628 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Pusaksrikit, Theeranuch |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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