Guilt, Pride, and Persuasion: Rethinking the Pathway to Charitable Contributions

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Kelly, M. (2022). Guilt, Pride, and Persuasion: Rethinking the Pathway to Charitable Contributions. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

The conceptualization of the consumer as one who not only does and thinks but also feels has gained increased attention from both academics and practitioners alike in recent years. To better understand the effectiveness of advertisements as well as the consumer motivation for giving, one needs to look at the elements of the ads themselves, the pre-existing emotional states in which the ads were received, as well as the interaction of these two together. This study is the first to assess the differential impact of combining pre-existing emotional states (guilt and pride) with opposing persuasion appeals on consumer motivation to participate in a prosocial behavior. In this study, I propose four competing hypotheses and then perform a 2 (incidental guilt vs. incidental pride) X 2 (guilt appeal vs. pride appeal) experimental design to provide support in favor of one of the hypotheses. The results of this study demonstrate that using positively valenced emotions vs. only negatively valenced emotions is one successful approach to rethinking the pathway to charitable contributions. The findings of this research contribute to the existing literature on affect, persuasion, and prosocial behavior, as well as provide important guidance for practitioners in terms of copyright, messaging, targeting, and promotion.

Details
Author

Kelly, Michael

Title

Guilt, Pride, and Persuasion: Rethinking the Pathway to Charitable Contributions

Physical Description

1 online resource (131 pages) : PDF

Date

2022

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

The conceptualization of the consumer as one who not only does and thinks but also feels has gained increased attention from both academics and practitioners alike in recent years. To better understand the effectiveness of advertisements as well as the consumer motivation for giving, one needs to look at the elements of the ads themselves, the pre-existing emotional states in which the ads were received, as well as the interaction of these two together. This study is the first to assess the differential impact of combining pre-existing emotional states (guilt and pride) with opposing persuasion appeals on consumer motivation to participate in a prosocial behavior. In this study, I propose four competing hypotheses and then perform a 2 (incidental guilt vs. incidental pride) X 2 (guilt appeal vs. pride appeal) experimental design to provide support in favor of one of the hypotheses. The results of this study demonstrate that using positively valenced emotions vs. only negatively valenced emotions is one successful approach to rethinking the pathway to charitable contributions. The findings of this research contribute to the existing literature on affect, persuasion, and prosocial behavior, as well as provide important guidance for practitioners in terms of copyright, messaging, targeting, and promotion.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Marketing
Behavior therapy
Industrial management

Degree

D.B.A.

Keywords

Appeal
Emotion
Guilt
Persuasion
Pride
Prosocial Behavior

Subject Area

Business Administration

Advisor(s)

Ames Stuart, Jennifer

Committee Members

Pham, Michel Tuan
Gooty, Janaki
Silver, Reginald

Degree Note

Thesis (D.B.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2022.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Kelly_uncc_0694D_13173

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:3042