wallet sore, gifts galore: The impact of financial constraints on quantity–quality tradeoffs in gift-giving

• Financial constraints influence consumers’ quantity-quality trade-offs in the domain of gift-giving. • Financial constraints increase individuals’ preference for high-quantity option in the context of gift-giving. • The proposed main effect is serially mediated by fear of losing face and focus on tangible gift attributes. Consumers often make tradeoffs between quantity and quality in consumption contexts. This study examines how and why consumers make such quantity–quality tradeoffs in the gift-giving domain with the novel antecedent of financial constraints. Across five studies, we find that when purchasing gifts for others, financially constrained consumers exhibit a greater preference for high-quantity options (Studies 1A–2B). This effect is serially mediated by fear of losing face and tangibility focus (Study 3). Our findings contribute to the literature on financial constraints, face management theory, and gift-giving.