Accounting for Gifts: How Consumers Understand Free on the Internet
(2010)Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Purpose: To investigate how consumers understand free services on the Internet. Theories: The research is primarily based upon theories of gift giving. Methodology and analysis: The Internet is not a tangible marketplace and in order to understand the value of the free services online, we used consumers' behavioral accounts to explain how they perceive the free services that are common online. Primarily qualitative data was collected through seven unstructured interviews and an online survey. Our analysis of the data collected through these two methods is based on the interpretation and understanding of the “free” phenomenon that arrives through examining its meaning to the participants. Conclusions: It is difficult for consumers to... (More)
- Purpose: To investigate how consumers understand free services on the Internet. Theories: The research is primarily based upon theories of gift giving. Methodology and analysis: The Internet is not a tangible marketplace and in order to understand the value of the free services online, we used consumers' behavioral accounts to explain how they perceive the free services that are common online. Primarily qualitative data was collected through seven unstructured interviews and an online survey. Our analysis of the data collected through these two methods is based on the interpretation and understanding of the “free” phenomenon that arrives through examining its meaning to the participants. Conclusions: It is difficult for consumers to understand the value of Internet even though it has become such an important resource in their everyday life, however they do not perceive it as a gift, because they are aware that there is an exchange taking place. The ancient practice of gift giving does still live on in our society although the forms of reciprocity are changing. The obligation to repay can be seen in a new way among the consumers. Consumers do not pay directly for the exact value of the service but they do justify their use of free Internet service by giving in return their personal information to advertisers or creating content for other users. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2168056
- author
- Pemberton, Jennifer ; Georgieva, Marina and Rudin, Lina
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2010
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Internet, free, gift economy, service marketing, consumer culture, Management of enterprises, Företagsledning, management
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 2168056
- date added to LUP
- 2010-06-01 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2012-04-02 18:29:24
@misc{2168056,
abstract = {{Purpose: To investigate how consumers understand free services on the Internet. Theories: The research is primarily based upon theories of gift giving. Methodology and analysis: The Internet is not a tangible marketplace and in order to understand the value of the free services online, we used consumers' behavioral accounts to explain how they perceive the free services that are common online. Primarily qualitative data was collected through seven unstructured interviews and an online survey. Our analysis of the data collected through these two methods is based on the interpretation and understanding of the “free” phenomenon that arrives through examining its meaning to the participants. Conclusions: It is difficult for consumers to understand the value of Internet even though it has become such an important resource in their everyday life, however they do not perceive it as a gift, because they are aware that there is an exchange taking place. The ancient practice of gift giving does still live on in our society although the forms of reciprocity are changing. The obligation to repay can be seen in a new way among the consumers. Consumers do not pay directly for the exact value of the service but they do justify their use of free Internet service by giving in return their personal information to advertisers or creating content for other users.}},
author = {{Pemberton, Jennifer and Georgieva, Marina and Rudin, Lina}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Accounting for Gifts: How Consumers Understand Free on the Internet}},
year = {{2010}},
}