The gift of cultural capital: How culturally mixed gifts strengthen giver-recipient bonds

Abstract

Gifts can serve as tangible expressions of social connections. Culturally mixed gifts (i.e., objects simultaneously displaying cultural symbols from various countries) are growing in popularity within the gift market. However, their symbolic significance in building relationships remained unexplored. This research, rooted in cultural capital theory, investigates how culturally mixed gifts impact giver-recipient relationships. Across eight studies (N = 2,072), we demonstrate that culturally mixed gifts strengthen relationships more than nonculturally mixed gifts. This effect is driven by recipients’ perceptions that culturally mixed gifts symbolize desirable cultural capital and further enhance their perceived status. We also examine perceived cultural appropriation and gifting occasions to demonstrate moderators of the proposed effect, such that the favorable impact of culturally mixed gifts on relationship strength weakens when the gift is perceived as cultural appropriation, while it grows stronger on formal (vs. informal) occasions. The effect extends beyond interpersonal connections to brand-customer relationships.