Regret of action or regret of inaction: examining divergent regret patterns for experiential and material gifts

Abstract

We replicate Rosenzweig and Gilovich’s (2012) study on “differential regrets for experiential and material purchases,” according to which people experience regret of action (buyer’s remorse) for material purchases and regret of inaction (missed opportunity) for experiential purchases. Our results suggest that the original findings can be extended to gift giving context. Furthermore, we demonstrate that perceived subjective economic value of gifts explains the different forms of regrets (regret of inaction vs. regret of action) elicited by experiential and material gifts.