Giving a gift? Better late than never, study finds

Researchers found that recipients aren't nearly as upset about getting a late gift as givers assume they will be.

"Go ahead and send that late gift, because it doesn't seem to bother most people as much as givers fear," said Cory Haltman, lead author of the study and doctoral student in marketing at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

In a series of six studies, Haltman and his colleagues explored the mismatch between givers' and recipients' beliefs about the importance of a gift being on time. Their paper was published this in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

It is not surprising that people worry about giving a late gift. A survey by the researchers found that 65% of Americans believed that if you're sending an occasion-based gift for a holiday or birthday, the gift should arrive on time.

"A majority of U.S. consumers seem to think that gifts should be given on time -- but our study shows that there's more to the story," said study co-author Rebecca Reczek, professor of marketing at the Fisher College.

In one study, undergraduate students were asked to imagine giving or receiving a birthday gift of a pint of ice cream that would arrive on time or two weeks late. They were asked to rate how likely that a late gift would have a negative impact on their relationship.

Results showed that those who imagined giving the late gift thought it was more likely to hurt the relationship than did those who imagined receiving the late gift.

Those who imagined giving a gift late put more importance than those receiving the gift on the norm of making sure that you give gifts on time, the study found.

Another study found that participants feared that giving a late gift signaled that they cared less about the gift recipient.

"One of the key social functions of gift giving is to communicate care for the gift recipient, so it is not surprising that people fear a negative impact on their relationship if they are late with their present," Reczek said.

But that's not how gift recipients perceived a late gift, Haltman said.

"They didn't see a late gift as signaling a lack of care. They were more forgiving than those giving late gifts thought they would be," he said.

The fear of giving a late present even had an impact on what kind of gift people said they would give.

In one study, participants who imagined giving a late gift basket to a friend said they wouldn't worry as much if they put together a basket of goodies by themselves rather than buying a pre-made basket containing the same items.

"People felt that if they put extra effort into the gift, made it more personalized, that can make up for it being late," Reczek said.

But even if being late is OK in general, is there such a thing as being too late? The researchers asked participants in one study to imagine giving or receiving a birthday present that was two days late, two weeks late or even two months late. Results showed that both gift givers and gift receivers thought that the later the gift, the more harm that the delay would cause to their relationship.

Still, gift recipients never thought that the relationship harm would be as serious as did the gift givers, no matter how tardy the present.

Beyond even being severely late with a gift, there is one more line to cross: not giving a gift at all. How could that impact a relationship? In another study, findings showed that both givers and receivers thought that not giving a gift would harm a relationship even more than being severely late.

"Late is definitely better than never when it comes to giving a gift," Haltman said.

It is interesting that the study showed that people in general believe that it is important to give gifts on time -- but gift givers thought violating that norm was more serious than gift recipients, the researchers said.

But Reczek noted that everyone will be a gift giver and a gift recipient at various times in their lives.

"If you're late giving a gift, put yourself in the role of receiving a late gift," she said. "Based on our results, we believe that should reduce your worry that the lateness is going to be harmful to your relationship."

The most important rule: "Just make sure you give the gift," Haltman said.

Other co-authors on the study are Grant Donnelly, assistant professor of marketing at Ohio State, and Atar Herziger of Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology.