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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
Goodwill, generosity, altruism and giving are the terms that the sociological literature uses to generally describe the concept of Christmas spirit ([5] Belk, 1989), and it is often given as a reason or excuse for the Christmas season and its intrinsic consumption activities. Yet, there has been no specific empirical attention toward the structure or measurement of the concept of Christmas spirit. The aim of this paper is to create and validate a measure for Christmas spirit and responds, in part, to suggestions by [52] Sherry (1983) for research into the intangible antecedent variables to the gift giving process. While gift giving to children is a strong feature of Christmas, it is a unique, multifaceted, ritualistic consumption occasion that suggests the season is the peak of consumption in western cultures and the embodiment of a gift giving culture that endorses hedonistic behaviour as a traditional Christmas ritual ([9] Caplow and Williamson, 1980).
As [8] Caplow et al. (1982) note, people seem to spend quite freely on the preparation and enjoyment of the Christmas period. Furthermore, [42] Otnes et al. (1994) suggest that nearly all of the advertising expenditures for the most popularly requested toys occur in the September quarter. Therefore, if the level of consumer spending is a measure of Christmas activity ([4] Belk, 1987), then the Christmas period is an important occasion, not just for business, but for those making purchases for participation in Christmas activities. Ultimately, people with strong, positive feelings and judgments about Christmas would have a high level of Christmas spirit that genuinely influences the conduct of Christmas activities in a happy and cheerful manner. A more in-depth understanding of the structure of Christmas spirit will increase theoretical knowledge related to consumer behaviour, Christmas consumption motivations and refine marketing applications for promotion and advertising.
Since there is no measurement of Christmas spirit, the developmental theme of this research accepts that Christmas spirit is a complex concept and, as a starting point, this paper argues that it is a multi-dimensional construct of affective (feelings) and cognitive (evaluation) elements. This study takes a step towards developing consumer behaviour theory relating to attitudes and Christmas consumption....