Warm Glow Research Articles

Estimating Social Preferences and Gift Exchange at Work

We design three field experiments to estimate how workers' social preferences toward their employer motivates their work effort. We vary the pay rates offered to workers, the return to the employer, and employer generosity demonstrated via unexpected gifts. Workers exert effort even without private incentives, but their effort is insensitive to the return to the employer. This is consistent with “warm glow” but not pure altruism. The gifts have no effect on productivity, but engender extra work. This difference is explained partly by the finding that extra work is much more responsive to incentives than is productivity. (JEL C93, J24, J28, J33, M52)

Small Actions Can Make a Big Difference: Voluntary Employee Green Behaviour at Work and Affective Commitment to the Organization

AbstractIn the workplace, discretionary pro‐environmental actions made by employees are referred to as voluntary employee green behaviour (VEGB). This is increasingly recognised as a contribution to both the environmental and the financial sustainability of the organisation. However, the implications of VEGB beyond its original environmental domain largely remain underspecified, thus constraining the theoretical development of the field and advocacy for organisations in practice. This study thus investigates how VEGB associates with the employee outcome of affective commitment, which especially impacts the psychological relationships that employees develop with their organisations. Drawing on two studies, we found that VEGB was positively associated with affective commitment, as enabled by three mediating mechanisms that enhanced the sense of warm glow and moral credit for employees while protecting them against emotional exhaustion. Moreover, we found that perceived organisational support for the environment served as a boundary condition for VEGB and its mediation by moral credit and emotional exhaustion. Implications for theory and practice are discussed in the paper.

Assessing motivations for non-living and living organ donation among individuals with and without a history of blood donation.

The current study investigated relationships between a history of blood donation, registration as a non-living and living organ donor, and differential motivations. Motivational commonalities exist between blood and organ donors, but there is no prior data on the relationships between blood donation history and both living and non-living organ donor registration and motivation. Participants completed online surveys assessing blood donation history, organ donor registration and interest, and motivations related to donation behaviour. Blood donation history was not significantly related to registration as either a non-living organ donor (blood donors=81.4%; non-blood donors=76.4%) or as a living organ donor (blood donors=14.0%; non-blood donors=10.9%). Further, blood donation history was not related to interest in learning more about being an organ donor. Compared to those not registered as an organ donor, those who were registered reported more positive organ donation motivations, but these relationships were unrelated to prior blood donation history. The present findings are consistent with existing research on attitudes, warm glow, and identity as organ donation motivators, and provide novel information regarding the importance of independent assessment of motivations for non-living and living organ donation.

The Signaling Role of Charitable Contributions by Businesses: A Tax Policy Perspective

Abstract Empirical evidence suggests that charitable contributions to public goods by businesses may be driven not only by the familiar warm glow of giving motive but also as a means for businesses to signal high product quality. Building on this finding, we present an analytical framework that demonstrates that the optimal degree of subsidization should decrease with the extent to which the signal is informative and may even turn into a tax when the signal is sufficiently strong.

The effect of fixed and growth mindsets on buying sustainable foods

PurposeFew marketing studies have studied consumer mindsets about sustainable products in developing countries. This paper examines the influence of fixed and growth mindsets on buying sustainable foods in Iran.Design/methodology/approachTo reach this goal, the authors designed a conceptual model and specified hypotheses. A non-probability survey of 622 people was conducted through a multistage cluster random sampling from two provinces in north Iran: Gilan and Mazandaran. Data were collected through a face-to-face questionnaire. A chi-square test, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, the bootstrapping method and the PLS product-indicator approach were used for analyses.FindingsResults show that fixed and growth mindsets have a positive impact on buying sustainable foods. In addition, these two mindsets have a significant effect on consumers' health concerns and warm glow. The study demonstrates that health concerns, environmental values and convenience orientation mediate the relationship between growth mindset and sustainable shopping. However, for a fixed mindset, environmental values are not a mediator. Further, peer influence significantly moderates the effect of both mindsets and motivational variables—environmental values, convenience orientation and warm glow—on purchasing sustainable foods. This study emphasises the critical role of peer influence and motivation factors, including health concern, convenience and warm glow, on purchasing sustainable foods.Originality/valueThis research introduces a new framework concerning consumer behaviour, in particular, consumer psychology towards buying sustainable foods.

스마트팜 레스토랑의 친환경심리혜택에 관한 연구 : 행동 의도와 인구통계학적 특성을 중심으로

Smart farms are environmentally friendly and future-oriented agriculture, and also they play an important role in the restaurant industry. Therefore, this study tried to examine the importance of psychological benefits of green in the context of ‘indoor smart farm restaurants.’ More specifically, this study examined how three sub-dimensions of psychological benefits of green (i.e. warm glow, nature experiences, and self-expressive benefits) affect behavioral intentions. In addition, this study investigated the differences among the three sub-dimensions of psychological benefits of green based on the respondents’ demographic factors. For this, the study collected 320 responses, and data analysis results indicated that all of the three dimensions of psychological benefits of green significantly affect behavioral intentions. In addition, the results showed that differences in warm glow and nature experiences were partially found in gender, age, and marital status.

Volunteering, Charitable Donation, and Psychological Well-Being of College Students in China.

Psychological well-being indicates individuals’ positive psychological functioning and well-being. A growing body of literature, largely based on adults and old people, suggests that volunteering and charitable donations are related to individuals’ psychological well-being. As emerging adulthood is a vital time for lifespan development, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of volunteering and charitable donation on individuals’ psychological well-being on college students. Relying on theories of altruism and the warm-glow theory, this study estimates the relationships among hours of volunteering, amount of charitable donations, and psychological well-being from 1,871 Chinese college students. The linear regression results indicate that students’ hours of volunteering and the amount of charitable donations in the past year were positively associated with their psychological well-being. Volunteering, compared to charitable donations, had a slightly stronger association with psychological well-being. This study provides a rationale for academic institutions to integrate social service activities into the curriculum as a potential tool to promote students’ psychological well-being.

Socially Optimal Sustainability Standards with Non-Consequentialist ("Warm Glow") Investors

Socially Optimal Sustainability Standards with Non-Consequentialist ("Warm Glow") Investors

Socially Optimal Sustainability Standards with Non-Consequentialist ("Warm Glow") Investors

Socially Optimal Sustainability Standards with Non-Consequentialist ("Warm Glow") Investors

It's Not You (Well, it is a Bit You), It's Me: Self- Versus Social Image in Warm-Glow Giving

It's Not You (Well, it is a Bit You), It's Me: Self- Versus Social Image in Warm-Glow Giving

Environmental policy with green consumerism

We analyze environmental policy in a model where some consumers (dubbed green) derive warm glow from buying a good of a higher environmental quality, and where green firms differentiate products on their environmental quality to enjoy market power. For any given pollution level, emission taxes turn out to be less cost-effective than an emission standard because taxation always induces a higher wedge between the environmental qualities of products. By stark contrast, consumers prefer taxes to standards when the warm glow intensity is not too large. Also, the ability of green firms to exert market power makes the tax less attractive to green consumers. When the pollution level is endogenized via majority voting, both neutral and green consumers vote in favor of laxer standards and therefore pollution is higher compared to the case of non-differentiated products. By contrast, the majority chosen tax induces the efficient level of pollution. Green consumerism reduces environmental protection with standards but not with taxes.

The shape of warm glow: Field experimental evidence from a fundraiser

Theory commonly posits agents who care both for the level of public good provision and the extent to which they personally contribute to the cause. Simply put, agents feel “warm glow” from the donations they make. I discuss a lottery fundraiser conducted in the field devised to exogenously vary the incentive to give and identify the structural parameters of warm glow. Estimates suggest that for participants claiming warm glow as their primary motivation, its shape is increasing and concave. Nevertheless, welfare analysis suggests that warm glow is unlikely to be the only important factor in the decision to give.

Embedded Philanthropic CSR in Digital China: Unified View of Prosocial and Pro-environmental Practices.

In recent decades, China has transformed from a conventional society into a digitally competitive nation. From an economic perspective, embedded corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining a new height where gamified charity is a trendy approach. By adopting the norm activation model from the point of view of the stimulus–organism–response framework, this research theoretically conceptualized the role of the mobile application environment (including telepresence, functional transparency, and accessibility) to map the cognition and philanthropic behavioral intentions of consumers in the gamified setting. The quantified survey comprised 669 respondents. The findings highlighted the critical role of functional transparency and telepresence of a mobile application in driving consumers’ warm glow and ascribed responsibility. The research underlined the presence of the unique DNA of Internet Plus Charity (Public Benefits) for prosocial and pro-environmental purposes in China under the umbrella of philanthropic CSR.

The warm glow of recycling can make us more wasteful

Laudable initiatives designed to limit the environmental damage associated with consumption, such as the recycling of plastic packaging into clothing or unused bread into beer, have become increasingly popular. In three experiments, we show how such initiatives can potentially increase waste rather than preventing it. Specifically, we show that when presented with such options people may come to psychologically frame their waste creation as a contribution to the collective good that makes them feel good about themselves (i.e. eliciting a warm-glow effect). We argue that such potential ‘wasteful contribution’ effects need to be considered in assessing the true sustainability benefits of certain recycling initiatives.

Measuring Motivations for Choosing Ecolabeled Seafood: Environmental Concerns and Warm Glow

Measuring Motivations for Choosing Ecolabeled Seafood: Environmental Concerns and Warm Glow

Measuring Motivations for Choosing Ecolabeled Seafood: Environmental Concerns and Warm Glow

Measuring Motivations for Choosing Ecolabeled Seafood: Environmental Concerns and Warm Glow

Risk Transforms Prosocial Behavior

Humans routinely incur costs and take risks to help others. Current theories across the behavioral sciences explain prosocial behavior by assuming that people are rational but altruistic. However, extant empirical tests of these theories have focused on riskless prosocial behaviors and implicitly assumed their findings will also apply to risky prosocial behavior. We challenge this assumption. Across seven field and laboratory studies, we show that risk transforms prosocial behavior. In a field setting, we examine millions of risky prosocial behaviors by volunteer crisis counselors who try to help others deal with depression, abuse, and suicide. By leveraging plausibly exogenous increases in positive affect (driven by good news, happy calendar days, and sunshine), we show that unlike riskless prosocial behavior, risky prosocial behavior actually decreases when people experience an exogenous increase in positive affect. These findings contradict current theories and lay beliefs. In pre-registered experiments, we show that loss-frame (vs. gain-frame) nudges boost risky prosocial behavior by 38%-40%, but do not influence riskless prosocial behavior. These findings contradict current theories and identify a novel prosocial-behavior nudge that is nearly ten times stronger than leading prosocial-behavior nudges. To explain these findings, we argue that deciding to engage in risky prosocial behavior creates a warm glow gamble – prosocial successes feel good, but prosocial failures feel bad – which people evaluate in line with Prospect Theory. Our Warm Glow Gamble framework parsimoniously explains our findings. Because many real-world prosocial behaviors are risky, the largest barrier to prosocial behavior may not be selfishness, but risk aversion.

Relationship and influence of entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, and warm glow on sustainable agricultural development in the border area of Sebatik Island

Sustainable agricultural development in the agricultural sector has a very significant contribution to the achievement of the targets and goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program, that is for human welfare. This study aims to analyze the relationship and influence of entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, and warm glow on sustainable agricultural development in the border area of Sebatik Island. The data was collected by distributing questionnaires and indepth interviews with 250 farmers as respondents. Sampling was done using purposive sampling method. The data collected was developed using structural equation modeling and assisted by the AMOS program. The results showed that entrepreneurial orientation, warm glow, and social capital had a significant effect on sustainable agricultural development in the border area of Sebatik Island.

Strategies and theories to attract and retain blood donors: fairness, reciprocity, equity and warm‐glow

Background and ObjectivesThis paper sets out the case that fairness and reciprocity are critical to donor recruitment and warm glow is central to donor retention.Materials and MethodsNarrative review.ResultsI show that blood donors, compared to non‐donors, are more sensitive to violations of fairness. I argue that interventions that tap into reciprocity and fairness (e.g. voluntary reciprocal altruism) and the inequality in health between donors and recipients are likely to be effective in recruiting new donors. Once recruited, donors with greater experienced warm glow will remain as donors and those with weaker warm glow will relapse: a self‐selection mechanism. I argue that warm glow messages can, therefore, be used to enhance retention rates in new donors with lower levels of warm glow. I also show how research on emotions (prosocial emotions and emotional trajectories), sexual selection and trust offers new and exciting avenues for donor recruitment.ConclusionWarm glow is central to retaining blood donors and fairness and reciprocity to recruiting them.

Influence of Altruistic Motives on Organic Food Purchase: Theory of Planned Behavior

Marketing campaigns of organic food emphasize utilitarian benefits and psychological benefits as well as consumer culture to enhance environmental sustainability. In order to study the purchase intention of organic food, the authors developed a model using antecedents like warm glow, subjective norm, attitude and perceived behavioral control. This study examines the model for the Indian and the USA samples and thus integrated using three theories: Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Pro-Social Behavior (PSB) Theory with the interaction of Consumer Culture Theory. The model is estimated using the multi-group Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique using R software with samples from India (n = 692) and the USA (n = 640). Results differ for Indian and USA samples. The expectation of the “warm glow” resulted from an environmentally friendly purchase as having a higher influence on Indian samples than that of the USA. Further, the attitude towards organic food purchase intention is stronger for US samples than the Indian, and the group difference is significant, while all the relationships that take warm glow as an antecedent have higher β for Indian samples. Moreover, the study found that attitude towards organic food is a major element for US subsamples, whereas subjective norm plays a major role in Indian samples to adopt organic food. Managerially, the present study suggests that a firm marketing its organic food must concentrate more on “warm glow” for Indian consumers in order to improve their market share.