The Interactive Effects of Social Value Orientation, Message Framing and Context on Helping Behavior

Abstract

Helping at work, a form of organizational citizenship behavior, is highly positive for beneficiaries but it may come at a cost to helpers. In situations in which there is a conflict between what is best for oneself and the other, individual differences in social value orientation (SVO) – self-regarding versus other-regarding preferences – can influence cooperative choices. In this paper, we aim to explore under which conditions prosocial orientation is more or less likely to foster helping behavior. Building on the arousal:cost-reward model and self-discrepancy theory, we examine the moderating effects of help request framing and context on the relationship between SVO and helping behavior. In two studies using different approaches (a field experiment and a scenario-based experiment), we found convergent evidence that prosocial individuals are more likely to help than proselfs when it is more costly to do so. Similarly, prosocial individuals help more when requests are framed in terms of benevolence but not when they are framed in terms of exchange. These findings suggest that prosocial orientation fosters helping when it is more challenging to do so – that is, when help seekers do not have much to offer in return as well as in costly situations.