Analyzing Millennials' Romantic Christmas Gift-Giving Intention Using Theory of Planned Behavior

Theoretical Perspective

theory of planned behavior (TPB)

GAP: commonly used in consumer behavior in marketing domain but not much in gift-giving literature yet

Gift-Giving Context

gifting occassion

GAP: occasion->Christmas

giver-recipient relationship

GAP: giver-receiver relationship ->Romantic

target population

GAP: millennials

The research problem is to investigate the factors influencing millennials' intentions to give Christmas gifts to their romantic partners, focusing on how attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control impact to the intention with the framework of the theory of planned behavior.

The purpose of this quantitative structural equation modeling study is to use the theory of planned behavior framework to analyze the factors that affect on millennial's Christmas gift-giving intentions for their romantic partners in the U.S.

Attitude toward the behavior

Subjective Norms

Perceived behavioral control

Intention

gift-giving intention

Behavior

gift-giving behavior

Research Question 1: How do attitudes toward gift-giving influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners?

H0: Attitudes toward gift-giving do not significantly influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners.

H1: Attitudes toward gift-giving significantly influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners.

Research Question 2: How do subjective norms influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners?

H0: Subjective norms do not significantly influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners.

H2: Subjective norms significantly influence millennials’ intentions to buy Christmas gifts for their romantic partners.

Research Question 3: How does perceived behavioral control moderate the relationships of attitude to intention, subjective norm to intention, and intention to behavior, in the context of millennials' Christmas gift-giving for their romantic partners?

H0: Perceived behavioral control does not significantly moderate the relationships of attitude to intention, subjective norm to intention, and intention to behavior, in the context of millennials' Christmas gift-giving for romantic partners.

H3: Perceived behavioral control significantly moderates the relationships of attitude to intention, subjective norm to intention, and intention to behavior, in the context of millennials' Christmas gift-giving for romantic partners.

Research Method

Survey method

online questionnaire

Sampling method

population

sample size (formula)

quota sampling

age range requirement

in a romantic relationship

Analysis method

PLS-SEM

Research Design

Step 1: define population, sampling method, & sample size

Step 2: design the questionnaire

Step 3: pilot study

Step 4: questionnaire distribution

Step 5: data collection & data cleaning

Step 6: data validity & reliability testing (Confirmatory Factor Analysis)

Step 7: Data Analysis (PLS-SEM)

Data Collection

Data

Primary Data

Attitude

A1: attitude towards Christmas gift-giving tradition

A2: attitude toward gift-giving in romantic relationships

A3: attitude toward the current intimacy

Subjective Norms

SN1: partner expectations

SN2: family gift-giving tradition

SN3: friends and social media influence

Perceived behavioral control

PBC1: capability to source

PBC2: capability to compare

PBC3: capability to purchase

PBC4: capability to deliver

gift-giving intention

GGI: the willingness of giving a gift to the romantic partner on Christmas

gift-giving behavior

GGB: whether giving a gift to the romantic partner on Christmas

Secondary Data

Demographic characteristics

C1: Age

C2: Gender

C3: Marriage status

C4: Race

C5: Religion

C6: Education level

C7: Income level

Collection Method

How

online questionnaire

quota sampling

age range requirement

in a romantic relationship (screening question)

sample size

Why

ensure to reach the desired number of Millennials with preferred distribution

Data Analysis

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) PLS-SEM

used in TPB

used in behavioral science

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

Intention

Attitude

Subjective norm

Perceived behavioral control

Gift-giving

Millennials

Romantic Relationship

Practical

Retailers

Marketers

Researchers

Literature

consumer behavior literature

gift-giving literature

TPB