In help-seekers' shoes: First-person pronouns entitled charitable fundraising campaigns and individual donating behavior in China

Yongqiang Gao and Yaohan Cai

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2024, vol. 79, issue C

Abstract: Both first-person and third-person pronouns are widely used in charitable fundraising campaigns, but which type of pronouns is more effective in soliciting donations is still to be explored. In this study, we conduct a field study and five experiment studies to examine the effect of personal pronouns (first-person vs. third-person) entitled charitable fundraising campaigns on viewers' donations and its underlying mechanisms. We find robust results to show that, compared to third-person pronouns, adopting first-person pronouns (both singular and plural) in the title of charitable fundraising campaigns significantly increases viewers' donating willingness and behavior. Viewers' perceived self-other overlap acts as an important mediating mechanism: using first-person pronouns in the title of charitable fundraising campaigns first increases viewers' sense of self-other overlap, which in turn promotes their donating behavior. In addition, viewers' thinking style seems to bend the relationships between the use of first-person pronouns and both perceived self-other overlap and donating behavior in such way that individuals with emotional-thinking style (vs. rational-thinking style) experience stronger self-other overlap and demonstrate higher level of donating willingness when a charitable campaign is named in first-person pronouns other than in third-person pronouns. These findings contribute to the literature on charity marketing, personal pronouns and metaphor representation, and have substantial practical implications.

Keywords: Personal pronouns; Donating behavior; Self-other overlap; Thinking style (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:79:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924001565

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103860

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