The purchase or receipt of gifts by consumers is an area loaded with

intention and expectation and one that is highly influenced by the

way in which such gestures are pitched.  

This should provide food

for thought for retailers seeking to build up customer loyalty or for

consumers seeking to repair previous errors. “Saying it with flowers”

does not necessarily offer any guarantees

Straeter, L.M. (Laura)

Straeter, Laura

EUR Research Repository

ROTTERDAM SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, ERASMUS UNIVERSITY Making diversity  policies workBy Meir Shemla CEO extraversion  and M&A behaviourChris Murray talks with Taco Reus How to regulate  international banksBy Wolf Wagner    Streamlining deliveries through crowdsourcingBy Alp Arslan Can neuroforecasting  predict market behaviour?By Alexander Genevsky  Do apologies and favours make for happy consumers?By Laura Straeter 4th Quarter 2017Management Knowledge         RSM DISCOVERYRSM - a force for positive changewww.rsm.nl/discovery loaded with intention. The customary Christmas bottle of wine is always hap-pily accepted from a client with a view to the same client continuing to work with the giving service provider. The hard-working freelancer may send luxury chocolates to a regu-lar supplier as an extra reminder of the quality of service that they have already provided. The day that nei-ther party continues such a tradi-tion may be averagely regarded, and so the expectation created needs to be perpetuated. Gift-giving involves a three-step process, but that does not necessarily guarantee 100 per cent success. Firstly, the giver “gestates” an idea whereby the thought of offering something is translated into a choice. From there, he or she then offers a gift in expecta-tion of a positive response (or “presta-tion”). Finally, the recipient “reformu-lates”, meaning they consume the gift (commercial or personal) and decide how to react to the gesture. Whilst this breakdown in the pro-cess, as described by Sherry (1983), may seem at first scientific, it is crucial in contexts where individuals may need to go through such a procedure with a particular objective in mind. The ques-tion is – who wins? As a recent study suggests, it is often the identity of the giver that can have significant bearing on the recipient’s desire to reciprocate.Redressing the balanceThe research in question focuses on the “relational equity” inherent in of-fering favours and gifts in the sponta-neous act of doing someone a favour Consumption is not an isolated phe-nomenon, but it can take place be-tween friends or in a more commercial context. One thing is for sure. When gestures are made, either to apolo-gise for mistakes or to do a favour for someone with whom one has a per-sonal connection, there exists a care-ful thought process on the side of the giver to ensure that the recipient feels duly rewarded.  However, once such a transaction is placed in a more corporate context, the stakes are no longer the same. What retailers need to retain above all is the emotional minefield of consumer emotions and their potential reaction to gestures either given or received.Individuals have offered gifts or favours for all kinds of reasons since time immemorial. Such gestures are Do apologies and favours make for happy consumers?By Laura Straeter20   |   4th Quarter 2017Management KnowledgeRSM DISCOVERYThe purchase or receipt of gifts by consumers is an area loaded with intention and expectation and one that is highly influenced by the way in which such gestures are pitched. This should provide food for thought for retailers seeking to build up customer loyalty or for consumers seeking to repair previous errors. “Saying it with flowers” does not necessarily offer any guarantees. 4th Quarter 2017   |   21www.rsm.nl/discovery  The key to each scenario was to test to what extent the recipient felt the need to respond. One might rea-sonably expect that within business re-lationships a balanced relationship is more important than in personal rela-tionships and that one might prioritise smoothing over professional relations. However, this was shown not to be the case for consumers receiving a favour. In all situations it was found that consumers felt guiltier towards a friend than a commercial partner and there-fore also returned the gesture more often. Specifically in the commercial sphere, the relational inequity is es-pecially pronounced as the giver has a far more obvious vested interest in and in the attempt to apologise for harm done. This theory hinges on the extent to which people’s consumption decisions are guided by relationships that are not balanced in terms of out-comes of both partners.  When receiving a favour, people might feel gratitude, pressured or even guilty and therefore pressured into making a positive gesture in return. In the former case, the research focuses on the effects of an imbalance that is to the consumer’s advantage and em-phasises upon the desire of the recipi-ent to want to give something back.  The main discrepancy examined concerns the identity of the relation-ship (commercial or personal). In the latter case, people may feel guilty when they perceive that another person is angry with them, focusing on the re-sponses to an imbalance that is to the consumer’s disadvantage. The studies considered the negative influence of the relational inequity on the percep-tion of the gift. The prime objective was to analyse the emotional reaction of consumers in order to figure out under what conditions such a gesture could offer some guarantee of success and when it results in a failureCommercial versus personalIn the first line of research, a selec-tion of target audiences comprising US-based adults and Dutch universi-ty students responded to various hy-pothetical consumption situations: a lunch covered by a friend or a business associate in order to discuss finances; or a product given for free to a cus-tomer or a friend. “…it is often the identity of the giver that can have significant bearing on the recipient’s desire to reciprocate.”Management KnowledgeRSM DISCOVERYCalming the watersVia a series of online experiments, an apology gift was compared to sponta-neous gifts or other types of apologies. This second line of research empha-sised that a gift given to apologise is rather ineffective in its aim to restore the relational balance and resolve an-gry feelings. Not only was a gift prod-uct liked less when it was received as an apology, it also showed that it was less effective than a spoken apology.  The surprising but very revealing statistical findings of the study under-line the importance of careful consid-erations on the type of apology when it comes to calming the waters. When one is making a gesture in apology mode the results are generally inef-fective, and especially so for gifts. Exploring to deliverBased on the results of the re-search conducted, retailers would be well advised to keep in mind the favouring the customer. They are seek-ing to extend a business and maximise their profits. Restoring an imbalanced relation-ship with either a friend or a profes-sional associate is a fraught business but, ultimately, business is business and therefore commercial rather than personal gestures offer far fewer guar-antees of success.role of imbalanced relationships in consumers’ decisions.  First, it is suggested not to pitch “apology gifts” in their stores, given their apparent ineffectiveness. The products themselves are not in ques-tion but the response from recipients would suggest that “saying it with flow-ers” does not ensure the desired re-sponse from the giver. Second, when it comes to using re-lational imbalance to the retailer’s own advantage, it is advised not to heav-ily rely on favouring the consumers or clients. It might be recommended to follow the example of a number of companies that have positioned them-selves as more friendly, responsible or charitable by, for example, contribut-ing to a good cause. Although this friendly image has to be shown to be effective, the research presented would support this claim. In short, retailers, and consumers need to explore all the avenues re-quired to build relationships, as they are seemingly proving ever more dif-ficult. This article draws its inspiration from the PhD thesis Interpersonal Consumer Decision Making, written by Laura Straeter and published as part of the ERIM PhD Series Research in Managemet. It can be freely downloaded at  WEB  https://repub.eur.nl/pub/100819Laura Straeter is a lecturer with Maastricht University.  EMAIL   l.straeter@maastrichtuniversity.nl“When one is making a gesture in apology mode the results are generally ineffective,  and especially so for gifts.”Do apologies and favours make happy consumers? (continued)By Laura Straeter22   |   4th Quarter 2017

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Do apologies and favours make for happy consumers?

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Do apologies and favours make for happy consumers?

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