This holiday season, in addition to giving the usual Christmas gifts to loved ones, I will be participating in two gift exchanges: one with a small group of close friends and one with all the cousins on my mother’s side of the family. I am looking forward to both but, as usual, I am finding it challenging to think of a gift that will suit all of the people in attendance at each event.
Two studies, one published in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy and a second in the Journal of American Academy of Business suggest, however, that I should not be worried about the type of gift I wish to give so much as I should be worried about my relationship to the recipient.