Treat yourself: The role of purchase decision involvement in self-gifting motivations and customer satisfaction

Abstract

Self-gifting is a distinctive form of monadic gifting behaviour that brings in important implications for marketing practitioners. While self-gifting is mostly identified as an impulsive decision that often leads to satisfaction, this study argues that self-gifting may not always be impulsive given the various underlying motives. Using Goal Setting Theory, this study establishes the relationships among self-gifting motives, purchase decision involvement, and customer satisfaction . Purchase decision involvement as a mediator in between self-gifting motives and satisfaction, addresses a notable gap by zemphasizing how a person's level of purchase decision involvement may vary depending on different self-gifting motives. To this end, a quantitative study was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire. 204 usable responses from Sri Lankan consumers above 18 years old who occasionally or frequently purchased gifts for themselves were analyzed using AMOS software. The study unfolds that all the self-gifting behaviours are not impulsive since some of the motives (i.e., reward, personal disappointment, positive mood reinforcement, and hedonic) lead to increased purchase decision involvement. Further, some of the self-gifting motives (i.e., hedonic, negative mood reduction, and celebratory) do not lead to customer satisfaction. The mediation results emphasize that purchase decision involvement mediates the relationship between certain self-gifting motives (i.e., reward, personal disappointment, positive mood reinforcement, and hedonic), while the purchase decision involvement fully mediates the relationship between personal disappointment self-gifting and customer satisfaction. These findings enable us to understand self-gifting as a goal-oriented behaviour, highlighting how various self-gifting motives (goals) result in varying purchase decision involvement and satisfaction levels. Theoretical implications are discussed in line with self-gifting, and Goal Setting Theory and practical implications are proposed for marketers who target self-gifting consumers.