Who Are More Likely To Donate?: The Effects of Perceived Controllability on Empathy and Pro-social Behaviour

Abstract

Abstract Who Are More Likely To Donate?: The Effects of Perceived Controllability on Empathy and Pro-social Behaviour

Lee Ka Yang Department of Business Administration The Graduate School Seoul National University

Advertisement is used as a tool of marketing communication, affecting peoples attitudes and behaviors. Charity advertising is omnipresent, and the fact that it is one of the most significant tools in raising financial aids makes advertisement especially important today. In this research, I combined Weiners attribution theory and Batsons empathy theory to gain a deeper understanding of peoples helping behaviour in the nonprofit organization context. Specifically, I explored whether findings of Weiners attribution framework (perceived controllability—affect—action sequence), and Batsons affect-helping framework could be blended together and be applied in the context of charity advertising. I believed that perceived controllability of disability is an important factor in influencing peoples affective reaction of empathy, and ultimately, affecting their pro-social behaviour (donation intention). Testing a mediation with regression analysis, I demonstrated that perceived controllability of disability not only has a direct effect on pro-social behaviour, but also has an indirect effect on pro-social behaviour via affective reaction of empathy. More importantly, I contributed to the previous findings by showing that message receivers chronic regulatory focus orientation (promotion vs. prevention) has the moderating effect on affective reaction of empathy, and consequently, on pro-social behavior (donation intention). The present study provides an important implication to charity organization marketers: marketers need to segment their donor pool based on peoples regulatory focus orientation and align their regulatory focus orientation with fundraising messages to foster peoples pro-social behavior.

Keywords: Perceived Controllability of Disability, Empathy, Pro-social Behaviour (Donation Intention), Message Framing, Regulatory Focus Orientation

Student Number: 2015-20635