Although 92% of Romanians agree that thanking is a sign of being well-behaved, only half of them said thank you, during the last week, to close family members such as their partner or parents and only six out of ten to a foreigner, a survey by OTP Bank Romania revealed.

The study found that women say “thank you” more often than men (78% vs. 65%) and they smile more on a daily basis (68% vs. 54%).

The people who show their gratefulness the most are those aged over 60. They almost always use “thank you” (93% vs 79% other categories) and they smile more than the other age groups (70% vs. 57% all categories).

The study respondents said that Romanians lack the culture of gratitude, as they are not able to express gratitude in many situations. Several barriers prevent Romanians from expressing their gratitude: envy, selfishness, lack of education, fear of not owing something and gratitude being seen as a sign of weakness, the study revealed.

In Romania, the gratitude culture is perceived differently by various age groups. The Z generation regards gratitude and being thankful as normal, and have no difficulty in expressing them, while the Millennials regard it as a way of being polite, respectful. People aged between 31 and 45 are guided by the desire or expectation that the gesture will be returned and rewarded somehow, while seniors perceive gratitude rather in the sense of mutual exchange of favors, of owing something.

The study results showed that, online, the most used emoji to express gratitude is “Kiss”, followed by “Thumbs-up” and “Hug”, while “Mulțumesc” in its written version is the most used way of thanking in the digital environment.

The study occasioned the launch of The Thanks Bank, a content platform containing a wide range of formats (gif, video, photo, audio) dedicated to gratitude. The project aims to increase the gratitude level among Romanians and to inspire people to say “Thank you!” more often, in the most popular digital formats. Bancademultumiri.ro aims to increase the online frequency of thanks – the platform’s content is now available in Facebook chat, Instagram chat and Linkedin chat - and to encourage people to create new content around kindness.

(Photo courtesy of OTP Bank)

editor@romania-insider.com