Paying it forward: The reciprocal effect of superior service on charity at checkout

Efua Obeng, Chinintorn Nakhata and Hsiao-Ching Kuo

Journal of Business Research, 2019, vol. 98, issue C, 250-260

Abstract: Although donation requests at checkout have become commonplace, much remains to be learned about the store-level factors that impact shoppers' donation behaviors. This research, in part, fills this gap by studying the relationship between superior retail service and shoppers' willingness to donate at checkout. Drawing from social exchange theory, we hypothesize and show that shoppers who believe that they experienced superior service are grateful to retailers and reciprocate their gratitude by being more willing to donate at checkout than are other shoppers. We also identify two important boundary conditions by showing that the impact of superior service is weakened significantly when shoppers doubt the authenticity of the superior service or when they are asked to donate to victims of tragedies (e.g., a mass shooting).

Keywords: Charity at checkout; Social exchange theory; Gratitude; Service quality; Reciprocity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:98:y:2019:i:c:p:250-260

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.003

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