No browsing, no donating: impact of image emotion and colour on browsing intention in online charitable fundraising

Chundong Zheng, Yiran Zhang, Heming Gong and Jiaxin Lv

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2025, vol. 44, issue 1, 167-180

Abstract: Browsing behaviour, as a pivotal step before donation behaviour, plays a crucial role in online charitable fundraising, with little attention focused on attracting potential donors’ attention and improving their browsing intention. This research focuses on the colour elements of tone and saturation, as well as the victim’s emotion, to investigate the impact of their interaction on donors’ browsing and donation behaviour. The results of two studies indicate that presenting a victim image with happy emotion in low saturation, blue (vs. yellow) tones can enhance the individual’s attention to the victim’s image and further improve their browsing intention. However, when presenting images in high saturation, the colour tone and the emotion of the image have no significant influence on browsing intention. Besides, in low saturation, blue (vs. yellow) tones can enhance the donor’s donation rate and amount. These findings could help scholars and non-profit organisations understand how to present colour elements and victim emotions in the fundraising materials to stimulate the browsing and donation behaviours of donors.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2024.2314249

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