近年来在赠礼市场上，不良的赠礼风气大行其道，越来越多的赠礼者把过度包装的礼物作为赠礼的首选。然而学术界尚未有研究对礼物的过度包装问题进行过探索。本文试图从礼物接收者的视角去研究过度包装在礼物赠送领域所扮演的角色。通过九个实验，我们探索了礼物接收者对过度包装礼物如何进行评价及其内在的心理机制，此外我们还从情境（赠礼的场合）、关系（赠礼双方的亲密程度）、个体特质（礼物接收者的自我构念类型）以及礼物类型（稀缺的、定制化的和具有情感价值的礼物）多个角度对该效应的边界条件进行了界定。首先，我们发现礼物接收者对过度包装礼物的态度消极、赞赏水平低。本质原因在于礼物接收者将过度包装作为了判断礼物是否深思熟虑的首要线索，认为赠礼者在选择礼物时是通过包装作出的启发式捷径礼物购买决策，礼物本身的选择不够深思熟虑。其次，我们发现礼物赠送的场合、赠礼双方的亲密程度以及礼物接收者的自我构念类型调节礼物接收者对过度包装礼物的消极评价。当礼物赠送的场合为正式的仪式场合时，当赠礼双方的亲密程度较为疏远时，当礼物接收者的自我构念类型是互依型自我时，过度包装作为推断礼物是否深思熟虑的首要线索作用将被放大，礼物接收者认为在这些情境下礼物本身的选择不够深思熟虑，所以对这类礼物的评价消极。最后，我们发现当礼物本身的感知价值比较高的时候，礼物的感知价值会取代过度包装成为推断礼物是否深思熟虑的首要线索，礼物接收者会通过礼物本身较高的感知价值直接推断礼物本身的选择就是深思熟虑的，而包装在此时则起到提升礼物整体感知价值的附属作用，使得礼物接收者觉得不但礼物本身的选择是深思熟虑的，就连礼物的包装也是精心挑选的，从而对该礼物的评价积极。我们通过引入稀缺性的礼物、定制化的礼物以及具有情感价值的礼物三种礼物类型对该推论进行了验证。通过对以上问题的探索，我们构建了礼物接收者对过度包装礼物如何进行评价的整体研究框架，研究结论极大的充实了在礼物赠送领域关于过度包装的研究，并丰富了关于礼物赠送的相关研究成果，研究结论为企业如何设计礼物的包装提供了实践上的指导，同时也为个体消费者如何选择礼物提供了科学的建议。
In recent years, more and more gift givers chose overpackaging gifts which is a prevalent phenomenon in the market of gift giving. However, little research has explored to test the effects of gifts overpackaging on consumer behavior. To bridge this gap, the current research aims to examine the role of overpackaging in gift giving area from the perspective of gift recipients. Across nine experiments, we demonstrate how gift recipients evaluate the overpackaging gifts and the underlying mechanism driven this effect. In addition, we also define some boundary conditions including the context (occasions of gift giving), relationship (social closeness between gift givers and gift recipients), the characteristics of gift recipients (gift recipients’ self-construal), and gift types (scarcity gift, individualized gift and gift with emotional value). First, we demonstrated that gift recipients’ attitude and appreciations toward the overpackaging gifts are negative. Because gift recipients consider the overpackaging as the primacy cue for judging whether the gift is thoughtful or not. When they receive the overpackaging gifts, they believe that gift givers were using heuristic shortcut decision rule to select gifts rather than deliberate decision rule. Thus, the gift itself was not chosen thoughtfully. Second, we found that the occasion of gift-giving, social closeness between gift givers and gift recipients, and self-construal of gift recipients moderated gift recipients’ negative evaluation toward the overpackaging gifts. The primacy cue of overpackaging for inferring whether the gift is thoughtful or not will be magnified when the occasion of gift-giving is formal, when the social closeness is distant, and when gift recipient is interdependent self. Hence, in these conditions, gift recipients perceive the gift is not thoughtful and their evaluations toward it will be negative. Finally, we illustrated that when the perceived value of gifts was high, the perceived value will replace the overpackaging as the primacy cue for inferring whether the gift is thoughtful or not and gift recipients will infer the gift is thoughtful for sure through the high perceived value, while the overpackaging will play a subordinate role in enhancing the overall perceived value of the gift. Therefore, the gift recipients will think both the gift and its package are thoughtful. Hence, the negative evaluations toward the overpackaging gifts will be reversed. We tested these predictions by exploring three different gift types: scarcity gift, individualized gift and gift with emotional value.To summarize, the current research has built a theoretical framework about how gift recipients evaluate the overpackaging gifts. The findings fill the research gap about gift overpackaging in gift giving area and enrich the relevant research on gift giving. The findings also provide practical suggestions for companies on how to design the package of gifts, and for individuals on how to choose gifts.
