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Clothing disposition by gifting: Benefits for consumers and new consumption

Abstract:

In recent years, consumer behavior in the disposition of clothing has attracted increasing academic interest due to various economic, theoretical and environmental implications. This research seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge on this topic, from a scarcely-studied environment. Ecuador is a developing country in Latin America with high cultural collectivism, where gifting represents the primary clothing disposition method outside the household. This study focuses on the relationship between the values or benefits that consumers obtain from this disposition method and the new clothing purchases they make. This research uses a qualitative methodology in two stages with 35 in-depth interviews, which allows first to state and then support the hypothesis: When consumers gift clothing with core values associated with selfish motivations, such as the functional value in closets and various psychological values, the connection between disposition and new purchases becomes more likely. Although not linked to new purchases, the relational value appears as a transversal value in the disposition events under study.