Agency is a broad orientation aimed to advance the self and one’s own abilities, whereas communion is a broad orientation aimed to interact with others and connect to people in a larger social context. In Chapter 1, I introduce a new framework to conceptualize the constructs of agency and communion. Specifically, I propose that agency and communion each have two distinct underlying motives that reference either an internal or external standard. For example, an individual with a communal orientation may purchase a gift for a friend to build a relationship (internal standard) or as an act of compassion (external standard). In Chapter 2, I empirically test a central aspect of my framework in the context of consumer gift giving during times of hardship. This empirical work examines how recipients’ optimistic versus pessimistic outlook on their hardship influences gift givers’ purchases based on two different inferred communal needs. Optimism signals a heightened need for affiliation, whereas pessimism signals a heightened need for nurturing. As a result, gift givers select their purchases to fulfill the perceived psychological needs of the recipient. Eight experiments (N = 2,024) test this hypothesis, explore the mechanism, and identify boundary conditions. Therefore, whereas Chapter 1 explores agency and communion from the actor perspective, Chapter 2 tests and extends part of this framework from the observer perspective. This work concludes with a discussion of the implications for the study of both consumer hardship specifically and gift giving more generally.

Creator

• Cannon, Christopher

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-htc4-ng93

Subject

• Behavioral sciences
• Social psychology
• Psychology

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:15050
• etdadmin_upload_733191

Keyword

• gift giving
• agency
• communion
• pessimism
• optimism

Date created

• 2020-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright