Savary Jennifer, Goldsmith Kelly
Eller College of Management, University of Arizona.
Owen School of Management, Vanderbilt University.
J Exp Psychol Appl. 2020 Sep;26(3):538-550. doi: 10.1037/xap0000261. Epub 2020 Jan 9.
Public recognition is usually thought to motivate charitable giving. However, the current research identifies an important context in which the opposite occurs. We examine commonplace donation decisions involving modest amounts of money, which either take place in private, or are observed by others. We find robust evidence that public recognition can decrease donation likelihood. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect operates through a self-signaling mechanism: Public recognition creates ambiguity about whether the choice to donate is motivated by genuine altruism or the desire for recognition. As a result, public recognition can crowd out, or undermine, the self-signal of altruism, which in turn decreases donation rates. Finally, we test an important theoretical boundary, and show that when the social benefits associated with public recognition for donating are sufficiently valuable, the negative effects of public recognition attenuate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
公众认可通常被认为会激发慈善捐赠行为。然而，当前的研究发现了一种与之相反情况出现的重要背景。我们研究了涉及小额资金的常见捐赠决策，这些决策要么是在私下进行，要么会被他人观察到。我们发现有力证据表明，公众认可会降低捐赠可能性。此外，我们证明这种效应是通过一种自我信号机制起作用的：公众认可会让人对捐赠选择是出于真正的利他主义还是对认可的渴望产生模糊性。结果，公众认可会排挤或削弱利他主义的自我信号，进而降低捐赠率。最后，我们测试了一个重要的理论边界，并表明当与因捐赠而获得的公众认可相关的社会效益足够有价值时，公众认可的负面影响就会减弱。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》（c）2020 美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
