부산대학교 도서관

Gifts serve as appropriate tools for commemorating special occasions such as holidays, birthdays, Christmas, graduation, and entrance ceremonies. The act of exchanging gifts holds significance in strengthening social relationships between the gift-giver and the recipient. Over time, the formats and methods of gift exchanges have evolved, transitioning from traditional in-person exchanges to contemporary online gift-giving exchanges. Therefore, we aim to identify how preferences for product formats vary between gift-givers and recipients based on social distance in gift exchange situations. To achieve this, the current study employs a 2 (social distance: distant vs. close) × 2 (product format: physical vs. digital) × 2 (gift exchange: giver vs. recipient) between-subjects design. The experimental results reveal that when giving a gift to a close friend (vs. a distant friend), gift-givers express a higher preference for physical products. Conversely, when dealing with relationships that are relatively less close (distant), gift-givers show a higher preference for digital products. On the other hand, gift recipients show no significant difference in preferences for physical and digital products based on social distance. The findings of this study, obtained through a three-way interaction analysis of social distance, product format, and gift exchange relationship, not only provide academic importance but also offer practical insights for more effective strategies in the gift-giving market.