Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts‐in‐kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections.

The paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two‐week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ²‐test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant.

The majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors.

This paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given.

Businesses are spending billions of dollars on recognition rewards with the intent of boosting employee engagement, job satisfaction, and ultimately, their bottom line. However, employee engagement is at an all-time low. The purpose of this study was designed to take a step back to understand if there are demographic differences that influence personal preferences for tangible gifts as their preferred language of appreciation and of those who prefer to receive gifts, what types of gifts are most valued.

This study compared the demographics of those who selected tangible gifts as their primary (N  =  8,811), secondary (N = 14,827) or least valued (N  = 108,586) language of appreciation (motivating by appreciation inventory, White, 2011). From those with tangible gifts as their primary language of appreciation, 500 were randomly selected to code their open-ended suggestions for a preferred gift.

There are no important factors across the demographics of gender, age or work setting that influence whether individuals are more or less likely to choose tangible gifts as their primary, secondary or least valued language of appreciation. Respondents identified gift cards, additional paid time off and gifts related to desired personal experiences as their top gift choices.

When giving gifts to colleagues, discovering individuals’ personal preferences (favorite store, restaurant, ticketed event, food, drink and lunch option) is more likely to result in a gift that “hits the mark” in showing appreciation to the recipient.

The paper focuses on online younger viewers’ motivation to purchase virtual gifts on live-streaming platforms. To explore influencing factors, this study draws on the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) theory and liberal-conservative thinking theory to establish the research model. It analyses factors that influence the use of environmental opportunity, personal capability and personal thinking style units, which differ from traditional user behaviour research.

Through the variance-based structural equation modelling and partial least squares path modelling, three influencing factors positively affect online younger viewers’ virtual gift-purchasing motivation: technical opportunity, financial capability and liberal thinking.

Considering the economic imbalance between urban and rural regions, this paper focuses on online younger viewers’ regional differences and designs their urban-rural backgrounds as moderating factors. The multi-group analysis based on a non-parametric approach presents several significant points in the current study, such as younger viewers from rural areas paying more attention to technical opportunities and liberal thinking factors.

The study distinguishes the differences between urban and rural areas and explores online viewers’ specific opinions on the virtual gift-sending system. The regional differences are caused by local technical development and economic background. The results can help live-streaming platform managers and related departments improve their techniques and functions, aiming to drive the development of the live-streaming industry.

We aim to ascertain whether and how an individual’s social comparison affects their self-gifting motivations (SGMs).

We survey a North American sample comprising 619 Canadian and US respondents. We apply partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine relationships between social comparison, attachment orientation, parenthood, and self-gifting motivations.

We find that social comparison positively impacts self-gifting motivations. Additionally, we find that attachment orientation and parenthood can moderate social comparison’s impact on positively valenced SGMs and negatively valenced SGMs, respectively.

We elevate and expand existing scholarship on consumers’ self-gifting. Through the current study, we contribute new, empirical evidence illuminating how individuals’ attachment orientation (i.e. secure v. insecure) and parenthood status (i.e. parent v. non-parent) serve as agency-oriented moderators to temper social comparison’s influences on SGMs.

This study aims to examine the ramifications of an unfavorable public incident resulting from an organizational leader’s transgression on member outcomes and their intentions to purchase associated symbolic products as gifts. This study also considers how members’ attributions of organizational control affect the relationship between members’ organizational identification and their purchase behavior.

The study applies a longitudinal design involving two rounds of data collection over two years to examine a case of leadership transgression. Using the customer panel of a privately owned retailer, sorority members were surveyed before and after an unfavorable public incident involving their president. This study applied t-tests of mean differences and regression analyses to test the hypotheses.

After the leader’s transgressions were publicized, sorority members exhibited lower levels of cognitive organizational identification, satisfaction with the organization and purchase intention of organizational gifts. The association between cognitive organizational identification and gift purchase intentions was stronger after the incident. Further, controllability attributions positively moderated the association between cognitive organizational identification and the intended purchase quantity of organizational products after the incident.

The sample limits the generalizability of the findings, as the study is conducted on one case of a leader’s transgression in an identity-based organization (IBO).

The findings imply that efforts to repair customer identification should be taken rather than satisfaction enhancement when a leader of an IBO commits a public transgression.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to apply identity threat theory to understand how an organizational leader’s public transgression affects member outcomes and purchasing. The findings imply that it is critical to repair members’ identification when these situations arise. The use of a real case and a longitudinal research design are rare contributions to this research stream.

Free gifts have become a commonly used marketing strategy. Nevertheless, whether free gifts can and how this strategy promotes the surplus food purchase intention remain a debated topic. This paper attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of offering free gifts (target and non-target products) in enhancing the purchase intention associated with surplus food.

Categorically, Studies 1 to 4 were performed to analyze the impact of the free gift on the surplus food purchase intention, explore the mediating role of perceived quality uncertainty and examine the moderating role of blind-box design and mental simulation.

The study findings indicate that the provision of non-target products as a free gift exerts a more pronounced influence on surplus food purchase intention as compared to offering a target product as a free gift. Evidently, perceived quality uncertainty serves as a mediating role, whereas blind-box design and mental simulation are identified as moderators in this process.

This paper compares the influences of various types of free gifts, namely target and non-target products, on surplus food purchase intention through perceived quality uncertainty, thereby enhancing the existing comprehension of free gifts and surplus food purchase intention. In addition, this article extends the boundary conditions of free gifts by investigating the moderating influence of blind-box design and mental simulation.

The underrepresentation of Black girls in gifted programs has received attention in both education and counseling literature. Nevertheless, scholars have given less emphasis to the intersections of intellectual ability, race, gender, social class, and place, particularly the idiosyncratic experiences of gifted Black girls from rural, economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The authors of this chapter discuss this unique positionality, with a focus on historical segregation and exclusionary practices within the American educational system. The authors discuss the tenets of critical race feminism and identify factors that may foster educational resilience for Black girls from rural, low-income communities. Recommendations are provided to address pertinent issues related to structural educational reform and inclusive gifted education. The chapter concludes with a call for education and counseling professionals to fundamentally change the systems and processes that perpetuate systematic inequity for this underserved population.

Purpose – The present article explores a relatively new way for consumers to dispose of items they no longer use, namely free recycling websites. Online recycling is based on an encounter with an unknown recipient to give something away ‘in person’.

Methodology – A phenomenological approach was used to understand the meaning of giving through free recycling websites. Placing the focus on the donor's perspective, we analysed Internet postings and conducted 27 in-depth interviews.

Findings – Our research shows that (1) when the object is given, the online giver is less concerned about the risk of refusal, since the recipient has deliberately made the choice to take the item; (2) when the item is received, the encounter with the recipient removes the anonymity of charities and (3) in return, the encounter with the recipient offers the giver acknowledgement for the gesture without committing them to a relationship with the recipient in the way a gift to kith or kin might do.

Research implications – While former literature has highlighted certain tensions in the gift economy, this study shows how free recycling websites can help to alleviate such tensions.

Social implications – The research highlights how this system of object disposition enhances social interactions between two strangers that share an interest in the same object.

Originality – The article shows how this new form of gift-giving relationship is both rewarding and liberating: it is rewarding thanks to the interaction with the recipient (unlike donations to charities) without necessarily creating a bond of dependence (unlike giving to someone you know).

Gifted education suffers from the lack of a legal definition of giftedness and federal mandate for the provision of services in schools, and also from a lack of any federal funding to provide services. These lead to a situation characterized by extreme inconsistency in provision of educational services across locations, sometimes even within the same school district. We offer a historical perspective on these issues and a view of the current status of gifted education services, followed by discussion of relevant legal issues in this context.

This chapter focuses on dispelling popularized educational myths by providing “lively personal accounts” of the experiences of culturally and racially diverse families who are raising high ability/gifted children and youth or who have completed the task with outstanding proficiency and remarkable skill. Through vignettes, parents reveal how they experienced their children’s giftedness in the context of the home and community. In a concluding lessons learned section, an analysis of themes generated is shared based on input from the families. Recommendations for further research and considerations for school practice are also provided.