Kim, Hyebin, Elanor F. Williams, and Sydney E. Scott. “Let’s Try Something New: People Prefer Sharing Novel Experiences with Others,” invited for second round revision at Journal of Marketing Research. (Job Market Paper)
Abstract: People often choose between new, unfamiliar experiences and familiar, tried-and-true experiences. This research demonstrates that, when people share an experience with someone else, they are more likely to choose a novel experience over a familiar one than when they have an experience alone. One key reason why this effect occurs: people expect new experiences to be awkward and uncomfortable, but having company lessens the awkwardness of trying something new. The fact that anticipated awkwardness drives these preferences also suggests certain nuances and boundary conditions. First, when the novel experience is made to be less awkward, people are more interested in trying it when they are alone. Second, some types of partners seem better at reducing the awkwardness of novel experiences than others. For example, sharing an experience does not increase preferences for trying something new if one’s partner is an acquaintance (as opposed to a friend). And, sharing an experience especially increases preferences for trying something new if one’s partner is familiar with the experience and can help navigate it. This research sheds insight into when consumers are willing to try new experiences and offers practical suggestions for making novel experiences more appealing to consumers.
Kim, Hyebin, Elanor F. Williams, and Mary Steffel. “The Host's Dilemma: Hosts Feel Like They Miss Out on Their Own Gatherings.” under review at Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (Dissertation Essay 1)
Abstract: One of the main reasons people host gatherings is to interact and bond with their friends and family, yet hosts may find that taking on that role gets in the way of the very connection they seek. Across seven studies examining both retrospective and prospective experiences, we identify an important negative consequence of being the host of a gathering: hosts feel like they miss out on the gatherings they organize more so than guests. This happens because hosts’ responsibility for the party means that their attention is more divided than guests’, rather than simply because hosts spend less time with the other people at the party or because they know more people there and thus have more to miss out on. We also investigate possible ways to reduce feelings of missing out. We show that sharing hosting responsibility with a co-host does not reduce feelings of missing out, but dividing responsibility by delegating elements to someone else can make hosts feel less like they miss out and more interested in hosting again in the future. The findings contribute to our understanding of people’s experiences as hosts and guests and reveal how to enable people to feel more engaged in the gatherings they organize and more connected to people they care about.
Kim, Hyebin, Elanor F. Williams, and Mary Steffel. “It’s My Party: Hosting Leads People to Make Self-Reflective Choices for Shared Consumption.” manuscript in preparation for submission to Journal of Consumer Psychology. (Dissertation Essay 2)
Abstract: Despite the sizeable market for products and services aimed at party hosts, little is known about how hosting—assuming primary responsibility for organizing a social gathering and overseeing the guest experience—shapes the choices consumers make for these shared consumption experiences. Although one might expect hosts to prioritize guests’ preferences, eight studies show that hosts are more likely to choose food, music, decorations, and other elements for a party that reflect their own preferences and identity over more generally popular options or options tailored specifically to their guests, compared to people making the same choices but not as hosts. This is driven by hosts’ feelings of psychological ownership and subsequent sense of entitlement and desire to share something about themselves with their guests. This tendency persists regardless of whether hosts provide the location or resources for the party or whether the event expressly celebrates the host themselves, and attenuates when the event expressly celebrates another person. Consequently, in contrast to marketers’ expectations, hosts are more interested in services marketed as self-reflective than as reflecting guests’ preferences. The findings shed light on hosting as a unique decision making context and provide insight into how the party industry can appeal to hosts.
Kim, Hyebin, Elanor F. Williams, Aviva Philipp-Muller, Grant E. Donnelly, and Emily Rosenzweig. “Mismatched Giver and Recipient Preferences for Utilitarian and Hedonic Gifts,” invited for resubmission at Journal of Marketing.
Abstract: Most gifts are purchased for a specific occasion, such as a graduation, Valentine’s Day, or a birthday. However, research evaluating whether gift choice is influenced by occasion remains underexplored. Nine studies, including real gift purchases from wedding and baby registries, controlled experiments with incentivized gift choices, and hypothetical decisions, demonstrate that gift givers prefer giving utilitarian (vs. hedonic) gifts when the gift-giving occasion marks (vs. does not mark) an important life transition for the recipient. Givers are more likely to give utilitarian gifts both when the occasion is normatively seen as transitional (e.g., graduations and baby showers) versus non-transitional (e.g., birthdays and appreciation days), and when the same occasion is framed as either more or less transitional. This diverging preference occurs because transitional occasions prompt gift givers to adopt a longer-term temporal focus. Our studies also offer actionable insights for gift givers and marketers: when occasions are framed as more transitional, gift givers choose gifts that better match recipients’ preferences, and when a gift registry highlights the transitional nature of the occasion, givers are more likely to contribute to utilitarian requested funds. These findings have implications for how registries and retailers can better market gift items to improve satisfaction with gifts.
Kim, Hyebin and Elanor F. Williams. “Giving up on Giving Gifts.” manuscript in preparation for submission to Journal of Consumer Research.
Abstract: Exchanging gifts can bring connection and joy, but at the same time, engender stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. One common but underexamined approach to dealing with the negative consequences of exchanging gifts is to stop giving and receiving gifts entirely. In two studies (N = 1397), we demonstrate that most people have at least one ongoing relationship in which they have ceased exchanging gifts, including a majority of a demographically representative sample. Further, we show that conflict due to gift giving is the most common reason why people stop exchanging gifts with a loved one. We also examine some of the consequences of abstaining from gifts, revealing that the decision to stop exchanging gifts does not necessarily harm the relationship as much as people expect, and can even provide some psychological and emotional benefits. Finally, we discuss alternatives to individual gift exchanges that can potentially maintain the festive spirit of gift giving but mitigate the stress it causes, and implications for marketers on how to motivate people to keep on giving.
Kim, Hyebin, Cynthia Cryder, and Robyn A. LeBoeuf. “Bad Donations: Waste Aversion Drives Consumers’ Donations of Subpar Goods,” data collection complete.
Abstract: Consumers often donate shoddy, or subpar, goods. We find that consumers make these donations because the alternative—throwing goods away—feels wasteful. We further show that feeling wasteful presents consumers with a want/should dilemma: consumers want to donate subpar goods while sometimes understanding they should just throw them away instead.
Kim, Hyebin, Elanor F. Williams, and Sydney E. Scott. “Free Money Frees Consumers to Explore New Things,” data collection in progress.
Abstract: In initial studies, we find that “free” resources—like gift cards or reward points—encourage consumers to try new things by using them in ways they wouldn’t if they were spending their own money. The findings have implications for how marketers should frame rewards and promotions to encourage exploration and discovery.