Cross-Cultural Differences in the Refusal to Accept a Small Gift: The Differential Influence of Reciprocity Norms on Asians and North Americans Hao Shen Chinese University of Hong Kong Fang Wan University of Manitoba Robert S. Wyer, Jr. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Asians are more likely than North Americans to refuse a small gift that is offered to them by a casual acquaintance. Five experiments confirmed this difference and explored the reasons for its occurrence. Asians, who are inclined to think of themselves in relation to others, are more likely than North Americans to invoke a reciprocity norm in exchanging gifts with casual acquaintances, and they refuse a gift in order to avoid the feeling of indebtedness they would experience if they cannot reciprocate. North Americans, however, who are inclined to think of themselves independently of others, are more likely to base their acceptance of the gift on its attractiveness without considering their obligation to reciprocate. These cultural differences are not evident when the gift is offered by a close friend with whom individuals have a communal relationship. Implications of our findings for miscommunication between members of different cultures are discussed. Keywords: culture, social norm, attribution Cultural differences in norms, values, and overt behavior are widely recognized (for reviews, see Kitayama & Cohen, 2007; Wyer, Chiu, & Hong, 2009). These differences range from self- construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), to nonverbal perception (Ambady, Koo, Lee, & Rosenthal, 1996; Ambady & Weisbuch, in press), to the language used to communicate about social behavior (Semin, 2009), thinking style (Nisbett, 2003), and intergroup ne- gotiation (Leung, 1997). These differences can lead representa- tives of different cultural backgrounds to misinterpret the intended implications of one another’s behavior. Consequently, they can have an adverse effect on interpersonal relations (Brislin, 2009). One potential source of misunderstanding surrounds the ex- change of gifts. The offer of a gift and its subsequent acceptance or rejection are forms of social communication, and the interpre- tation of these behaviors, like other communication, is governed by norms and values that vary over cultures and social groups. Thus, for example, an individual’s offer of a gift to another is likely to be guided in part by the expectation that the gift will be appreciated. However, when recipients expect that if they accept the gift, they are obligated to respond in kind, they may reject the offer. The failure to understand one another’s motives and reac- tions in such a situation could create hard feelings and damage the personal relationship between the individuals involved. Cultural differences in the disposition to accept a gift may be a reflection of a more fundamental difference in the tendency to think of oneself as independent or interdependent (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). North Americans, who typically have indepen- dent self-construals, may base their acceptance of a gift from a casual acquaintance on the attractiveness of the gift itself without considering the reason it is being given or their obligation to reciprocate it. Asians, however, who typically think of themselves in relation to others, may be more sensitive to their obligation to reciprocate (Hofstede, 1980; Singelis, 1994) and consequently may anticipate feeling indebted if they receive a gift without being able to reciprocate. For these reasons, therefore, Asians may be less inclined to accept a gift than North Americans are. The studies to be reported examined this possibility using both North American and Chinese participants. A series of scenario studies provided preliminary evidence that Chinese are more likely than North Americans to reject a gift from a casual acquaintance. Furthermore, this difference is attributable not only to differences in the appreciation they were likely to experience but also to differences in the feelings of indebtedness they imagined they This article was published Online First November 8, 2010. Hao Shen, Department of Marketing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong; Fang Wan, Department of Marketing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Robert S. Wyer, Jr., Department of Business and Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana– Champaign. Robert S. Wyer, Jr. is now at the Department of Marketing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. All authors contributed equally and are listed alphabetically. This re- search was supported in part by Grants GRF641308 and GRF453110 from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong; Grant UM/SSHRC from the University of Manitoba; and the Dean’s Research Grant and the Ross Johnson Research Fellowship from the I. H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hao Shen, Department of Marketing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. E-mail: shenhao@baf.msmail.cuhk.edu.hk Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 100, No. 2, 271–281 0022-3514/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021201 271