The negative consequences of apology gifts — Are evaluated more negatively than no or gift label, & are accepted and appreciated less, and regifted more than regular gifts

Don't tell me you are sorry with a gift: The negative consequences of apology gifts. Ilona E. De Hooge, Laura M. Straeter. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Volume 70, January 2023, 103144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103144

Highlights

• Products given to apologize have different effects compared to regular gifts.

• Products with an apology label are evaluated more negatively than no or gift label.

• Apology gifts are accepted and appreciated less, and regifted more than regular gifts.

• These effects occur because apology gifts act as negative reminders.

• The findings suggest retailers to be careful with presenting products as apology gifts.

Abstract: While products are regularly presented as gifts to apologize, little is known about the effect of an apology context on product evaluations and relationships. Past research suggests that recipients positively evaluate gifts. Instead, our five studies reveal that, when recipients receive an apology gift, they evaluate the gift and the giver-recipient relationship more negatively compared to regular products, to receiving regular gifts, or towards verbal apologies. This occurs because apology gifts remind the recipient of transgressions, and signal misunderstandings of recipients’ emotions. These findings highlight the importance of the gift-giving context when promoting products as gifts.

Keywords: Gift givingApologyProduct evaluationRelationshipsMotives

8. General discussion

Usually, presenting product as gifts may positively affect product evaluations (Baumann & Hamin, 2014; Park & Yi, 2022). We demonstrate, however, that presenting products as apology gifts can negatively affect product evaluations and giver-recipient relationships. Moreover, products received as apology gifts are less accepted, and more often regifted. These negative effects occur because products given as apology gifts can act as transgression reminders, and can signal that givers misunderstand recipients’ emotions. Together, these findings suggest that giving a gift to apologize, or presenting products as gifts, may not be so beneficial after all.

8.1. Implications

Our findings reveal that the gift-giving setting in which products are presented as gifts are relevant to bear in mind. Recently, some authors have suggested that it can be valuable to include emotional aspects in retail and consumer research (Souiden et al., 2019). The current findings suggest that negative emotions or experiences, which may be unrelated to products, may still affect the product evaluation process. It may be possible that other emotional experiences that are unrelated to products, such as pride experiences after consumers have achieved something or sadness after consumers have lost something valuable, may affect their responses to products. Similarly, other gift-giving contexts or product-labels that relate to emotional experiences, such as get-well-soon gifts, farewell gifts, or consolation prizes, may also exert effects on product evaluations. Uncovering the effects of emotional experiences, gift-giving contexts, and product labels would help build a more nuanced understanding of the effects of emotional experiences on product evaluations.

The present findings also provide new insights for consumer research on gift-giving. Research has shown that emotions may affect the selection of gifts (De Hooge, 2014), and that emotions may be generated during gift receipt (Gupta et al., 2020; Ruth et al., 1999). The current research extends these findings by showing that emotional experiences prior to the gift-giving act may affect recipient responses to gifts. Moreover, while most research suggests that gift-giving has positive consequences for both product evaluations and relationships, we are one of the first to suggest that some gift-giving settings may negatively impact product evaluations and relationships. It may thus be valuable to examine whether the dynamics of other emotional gift-giving settings also negatively affect product evaluations.

The current research also adds to existing apology research. In general, apologies are perceived positively, both in interpersonal settings and in retail or service contexts (e.g., Exline et al., 2007; Honora et al., 2022; Kaleta & Mroz, 2021). Yet, apologies may have negative consequences. Recent research has shown that, in retail contexts where retailers have restricted customers, providing an apology for the restriction may generate more negative responses from customers (Luo et al., 2021). In a similar vein, we show that, although the intention may be positive, giving a gift as an apology may negatively affect customer responses. Future research proposes that retail and consumer contexts apologies may have positive versus negative effects on consumer responses.

8.2. Limitations and future research

As current studies provide evidence supporting that apology gifts can have negative consequences, there are still limitations. Gift-giving usually occurs in a complex, dynamic setting, in which the giver-recipient relationship, the gift-giving reason, and the product type presented all interact. Our research aims to examine a varied sample of gift-giving situations, which develops an idea of how apology gifts affect product evaluations and relationships. Yet, as a consequence, every study contains specific weaknesses. For example, one may wonder whether DVDs are ever actually regifted. Also, none of the studies may fully capture the interactions between giver identities, recipient identities, giver-recipient relationships, the gift-giving reason, and gift aspects. Therefore, the current studies may not capture the full scope of how apology gifts influence consumer responses.

Moreover, the current research did not provide a full mediation explanation for the effect, nor a clear overview of the relevance of individual characteristics of consumers. Our results reveal that apology gifts act as negative reminders, and as signals that givers misunderstand recipients’ emotions. The findings also show that an inadequate compensation for the hurt caused, and an obligation to reciprocate the gift do not explain the effects of apology gifts on product evaluations. We have learned that materialism does not moderate the effects of apology gifts, but other individual characteristics may matter. Additionally, our studies focused on transgressions including some emotional damage, but apology gifts may support transgressions with mostly material damage, or those which concern more experiential gifts. These could all form fruitful paths for future research.

8.3. Conclusion

Together, our findings shed light on how presenting products in a gift-giving context or with a special motive, such as to apologize for transgressions, can have negative consequences for product evaluations and for relationships. Apparently, presumably good intentions, such as making a costly apology, can tarnish recipients' views of products and relationships. Similarly, retailers’ good intentions to support apology gift giving, may negatively affect consumer responses towards their products. It may thus be wise for givers to find alternative apologizing tactics, and for retailers to rethink promoting their products as apology gifts.