When Public Recognition for Charitable Giving Backfires: The Role of Independent Self-Construal

Abstract This research examines the effectiveness of public recognition in encouraging charitable giving, demonstrating that public recognition can sometimes decrease donations. While previous work has largely shown that making donations visible to others can motivate donors, the present research shows that the effectiveness of public recognition depends on whether potential donors are under an independent (i.e., separate from others) or interdependent (i.e., connected with others) self-construal. Across seven experimental studies, an independent self-construal decreases donation intentions and amounts when the donor will receive public recognition compared to when the donation will remain private. This effect is driven by the activation of an agentic motive, wherein independents are motivated to make decisions that are guided by their own goals and self-interests, rather than being influenced by the opinions and expectations of others. This research contributes to the understanding of the nuanced roles of both public recognition and self-construal in predicting donation behavior.

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How does public recognition affect price sensitivity to green products? The role of self‐construal and temporal distance

Psychology and Marketing ◽

10.1002/mar.21500 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jian Gao ◽

Jianguo Wang ◽

Ainsworth Bailey

Keyword(s):

Temporal Distance ◽

Price Sensitivity ◽

Green Products ◽

Self Construal ◽

Public Recognition

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When Public Recognition Inhibits Prosocial Behavior: The Case of Charitable Giving

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0899764020911203 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (5) ◽

pp. 951-968

Author(s):

Etienne Denis ◽

Claude Pecheux ◽

Luk Warlop

Keyword(s):

Prosocial Behavior ◽

Charitable Giving ◽

Crowding Out ◽

Social Approval ◽

Social Dimensions ◽

The Public ◽

Need For Approval ◽

Public Recognition ◽

Donation Behavior ◽

The Way

Commonly regarded as an important driver of donation behavior, public recognition also can reduce donations. With three studies, this research manipulates whether donors receive public, private, imposed, or optional forms of recognition; the results show that the influence of recognition on the decision to donate is moderated by donors’ need for social approval. Whereas public recognition improves charitable giving among people with higher need for approval, imposing recognition reduces donations among people with lower need, suggesting a potential crowding-out effect on prior motives (Study 1). This penalty for public recognition disappears when the public recognition is optional (Study 2). When public recognition is saliently imposed (not requested), donation likelihood increases, suggesting that donors’ potential concerns about observers’ suspicion of their true motives is reduced (Study 3). This research highlights conditions in which public recognition encourages charitable giving and paves the way for further research on social dimensions of generosity.

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Shame or pride?

European Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1108/ejm-02-2013-0110 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 48 (7/8) ◽

pp. 1431-1450 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Jae-Eun Kim ◽

Kim K.P. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Experimental Studies ◽

Moral Emotions ◽

Moral Judgments ◽

Fashion Industry ◽

Moral Decision Making ◽

Content Type ◽

Counterfeit Goods ◽

Causal Direction ◽

Self Construal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of individuals’ self-view (interdependent, independent) in the relationship between moral emotions and moral judgments made concerning the purchase of fashion counterfeits. Design/methodology/approach – Based on reviewing the literature on moral decision making, moral emotion and self-construal, we test the hypotheses by two experimental studies. Findings – The results of two studies demonstrated that independents were more likely to judge counterfeits as morally wrong when pride rather than shame was associated with counterfeits or was evoked through an anti-counterfeit campaign. Interdependents were more likely to judge counterfeits as morally wrong when shame rather than pride was evoked through an anti-counterfeit campaign. Research limitations/implications – Results can inform marketing communication campaigns designed to prevent the proliferation of counterfeits in the fashion industry. Originality/value – The contribution of this research is the expansion of prior work on consumers’ purchase of counterfeit goods by the discovery of the causal direction of individuals’ differences in self-view and its impact on moral judgment.

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An experimental comparison of rebate and matching in charitable giving: The case of Japan

Japanese Economic Review ◽

10.1007/s42973-021-00085-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shusaku Sasaki ◽

Hirofumi Kurokawa ◽

Fumio Ohtake

Keyword(s):

Charitable Giving ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Budget Constraint ◽

Third Party ◽

Experimental Result ◽

Experimental Comparison ◽

Japanese People ◽

Donation Behavior ◽

Japanese Residents ◽

Japanese Yen

AbstractThis study uses a Japanese nationwide sample and experimentally compares rebate and matching, both of which are schemes intended to lower the price of monetary donation. Standard economic theory predicts that the two schemes will have the same effect on individuals’ donation behavior when their donation price is equivalent. However, we conduct an incentivized economic experiment through the Internet on 2300 Japanese residents, and find that matching, which lowers the donation price by adding a contribution from a third-party, increases individuals’ donation expenditures compared to rebate, which lowers it through a refund from a third-party. The experimental result shows that the donation expenditure in a 50% rebate treatment drops by approximately 126 Japanese yen compared to the control, while in a 1:1 matching treatment with essentially the same price of donation as the 50% rebate, the expenditure conversely rises by approximately 56 Japanese yen. This tendency is consistent with the results of previous experimental studies comparing the two schemes. We further empirically confirm that the superiority of 1:1 matching over 50% rebate is not conclusively influenced by the participants’ confusion or misunderstanding, or budget constraint lines’ difference between the two schemes. Although the Japanese government has previously enriched rebate’s content, the level of monetary donations by the Japanese people is still low on an international scale. Based on this study’s findings, we discuss the possibility that implementing matching into the society effectively encourages their donation behavior.

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EXPRESS: The Role of Implicit Theories in Motivating Donations in Response to Threat-based Awe

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing ◽

10.1177/07439156211042281 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 074391562110422

Author(s):

Felix Septianto ◽

Yuri Seo ◽

Widya Paramita

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Charitable Giving ◽

Implicit Theories ◽

Disaster Relief ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Entity Theory

The present research investigates how charitable giving in response to threat-based awe, an emotional experience that typically accompanies disaster-relief campaigns, is likely to depend on consumers' implicit theories. While consumers want to behave prosocially when experiencing threat-based awe, due to the presence of threats, such behavior depends upon whether they believe that their donations have sufficient efficacy. Consequently, in response to threat-based awe, consumers holding to an incremental (vs. entity) theory perceive greater efficacy for their donations which, subsequently, increases their charitable giving. These predictions are tested across five experimental studies. The findings of this research contribute to the literature on implicit theories, the emotion of awe, and also offers a more nuanced approach to how different consumers may be motivated to engage in charitable giving in the context of natural disasters.

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Bringing Politics Back in Charitable Giving: Evidence From Donations After China’s Sichuan Earthquake

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0899764019868848 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 272-291

Author(s):

Ming Li ◽

Ran Tao ◽

Fubing Su

Keyword(s):

Charitable Giving ◽

Political Attitudes ◽

Sichuan Earthquake ◽

Spatial Coverage ◽

Chinese Case ◽

Survival Motivation ◽

Political Model ◽

Donation Behavior ◽

National Boundaries

Do non-Westerners donate differently? Drawing on a unique survey after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, this article reports some empirical findings about Chinese donation behavior. Our empirical analysis confirms the importance of various socioeconomic factors in charitable giving. What distinguishes the Chinese case from other societies is the role of politics. Political attitudes affect how people donate: Less trustful individuals and less dependent communities do not embrace state-centered charity enthusiastically. Our research expands the spatial coverage of the charity study that is dominated by experiences and practices from European and North American countries. To generate hypotheses about political attitudes, we develop a simple political model of charity. Placing politicians’ survival motivation at the center opens up new inquiries that are underexplored by current literature. It also inspires further research into comparative institutional designs of charity across national boundaries.

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