Ego Depletion and Charitable Support: The Moderating Role of Self-Benefit and Other-Benefit Charitable Appeals

Abstract

This research investigates the interaction between ego depletion (a state of reduced self-regulatory resources) and different types of charitable message appeals upon subsequent charitable support. Three experiments compare the time donation intent and actual monetary donations of depleted (vs. non-depleted) individuals who have been exposed to either a self-benefit message, highlighting the gains to be accrued to donors themselves, or an other-benefit message which focuses on the welfare of beneficiaries. The results show that when people are depleted, self-benefit messages are more effective than other-benefit messages in generating charitable support. When people are not depleted, the opposite pattern is observed. It appears that generosity among depleted people is self-seeking. As a processing mechanism, we show that depleted individuals perceive self-benefit messages as more appealing than the other-benefit messages. This research demonstrates that charities can maximize donations by advertising other-benefit messages in the morning and then self-benefit messages in the evening, given that depletion occurs naturally over the course of the day.