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PurposeThis research examines cultural differences between Thais and Americans in recipients' attitudes and behaviors throughout all three stages of Sherry's (1983) gift-giving model and the moderating effect of relationship closeness on the gift-giving process.Design/methodology/approachThree experiments tested recipients' attitudes and behaviors across cultures in each gift-giving stage. Study 1 explored the gestation stage (gift search and purchase). Study 2 tested recipients in the prestation stage (actual exchange), and Study 3 examined the reformulation stage (gift disposition and realignment of the relationship).FindingsResults show that relationship closeness between the giver and the recipient plays a role among interdependent self-construals. Thais (interdependent self-construals) are more likely to give a hint or make a request for a gift to close friends than distant friends and are also more likely to accept, keep and use gifts from close friends than from distant friends. Moreover, for interdependent self-construals, a gift from a close friend improved the relationship more than a gift from a distant friend. In contrast, Americans (independent self-construals) present no differences between close and distant friends.Originality/valueThis research provides a comprehensive picture of the recipient's perspective in cross-cultural gift-giving and expands the notion of relationship closeness as a moderator.

Superstitions are common phenomena in human society, especially in Asian cultures. Superstitious beliefs can have a negative impact on the social well-being of people in society because they are highly associated with financial risk-taking and gambling behaviors. This study looks at the effects of different types of superstitious belief (proactive vs. passive) on consumers' risk-taking behaviors. Categorized based on the characteristics associated with an illusion of control in a situation, proactive and passive superstitious beliefs were found to show differences in risk-taking behaviors. The results demonstrate that passive superstitious beliefs increase the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors when a superstitious object is introduced. The research suggests social marketing and public policy implications.

Increasing the propensity for job stress can negatively affect individuals' job satisfaction and work productivity. Therefore, lots of organizations have tried to assess factors that can affect job stress among workers so that they can seek to develop new working policies to promote a better working environment for their staff. This study aims to investigate how job stress is influenced by these key factors (i.e., workload, work-family conflict, role conflict, performance pressure, and supervisor support). To collect the data, 649 tellers who felt pressured and frustrated with their jobs were asked to fill in the self-administered questionnaires. Next, multiple regression was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that role conflict (β = 0.45), workload (β = 0.30), work-family conflict (β = 0.23), and supervisor support (β = –0.19) significantly influenced job stress among bank tellers. At the same time, performance pressure had an insignificant effect on job stress.