Research ArticleThe impact of self-construal and ethnicity on self-gifting behaviors

This research extends the understanding of how self-construal plays a role in our consumption behavior using self-gifting as its context. By applying a four-dimensional self-construal model, we sought to examine differences in self-gifting behaviors among the four self-construal groups (i.e., Bicultural, Western, Traditional, and Alienated), composed of participants from four ethnic groups in the UK (White, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi). The dependent variables included self-gift propensity, self-gift selection effort, and self-gift post-emotion. Our findings revealed significant differences in self-gifting patterns among different self-construal groups. Generally, the Bicultural and Western self-construal groups are similar, but differ in self-gifting behaviors from Traditional and Alienated self-construal groups. We demonstrate how the four-dimensional self-construal model allows a more precise conceptualization of self-construal and a more thorough investigation of cross-cultural consumption patterns than does the two-dimensional view.