ABSTRACT
Gift-giving is an important element in various cultures, systems, and dyadic relationships. Multiple facets of gifting, mainly relational, have been examined in the realm of consumer research. In the context of a non-commercial elderly student home share program, “Housing for Help,” this study extends our understanding about the progression of relationship types and exchange dynamics in the field of gift-giving. Drawing on Sahlins’ (1972) model of kinship distance and reciprocity as well as Belk and Coon’s (1993) agapic love model, this study explores how strangers transform their transactional market exchanges into close family-like relationships and friendship bonds, by engaging in strategies of material and nonmaterial gifting. The gifting strategies follow a spiral of reciprocity, which consists of material gifting, and nonmaterial gifting, such as sharing of interests, telling and listening, shared experiences, and learning from and caring for each other. The contribution is a temporally extended model that considers both the longitudinal emergence and reformulation of relations between alternating givers and recipients. This study also provides insights into the broader context of marketing and public policy: addressing the importance of aging in place, the well-being of elderly through social connections, and the disruption of current care solutions.
