Exploring the Gift-Giving Rituals of the New Middle-Class Consumers in a Muslim Society

Gift-giving rituals in a Muslim society from a new middle-class consumer perspective create interesting insights for businesses. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, the current study provides valuable findings with the help of the grounded theory. How does the gift-giving ritual proceed? What are the factors that influence the gift-giving process? In an effort to understand the gift-giving behavior in a Muslim society, this study also relates the gift-giving behavior with religiosity. Gift-giver’s income, gift-giver’s identity, recipient’s characteristics, perceived degree of the relationship between the gift-giver and the recipient, religiosity, and childhood memories affect the gift-giving of the new middle-class consumers in Turkey. Symbolic messages represented by the gift are mostly evoking happiness, feeling important, cared, and loved. If the gift is appreciated, the relationship between the gift-giver and the recipient strengthens and thus, gift-giving continues. If the gift is not appreciated, the relationship weakens and gift-giving ends. Furthermore, if the gift-giver is a friend or colleague and the gift is for a birthday or a wedding, reciprocity and obligation become prominent along with face-saving, group-conformity and reciprocal altruistic motivations. Altruism is more salient in giving gifts to the consumer’s family.