Prosocial Giving to Various Targets: A Longitudinal Examination in Poland in the First Post-COVID-19 Year

Abstract

Recently, Europe, including Poland, witnessed several events that encouraged prosocial behaviors toward various actors in social life, including people and organizations. However, are the tendencies to support others changing over the post-COVID-19 yearly period and does that change depend on the target of donations? Based on social support mobilization and deterioration theory and construal level theory, in the current study, we aimed to test the change in the willingness to give money (operationalized as fictitious coins) or time to various targets in need over time. Poles from the general population (N = 566) participated in a 2-wave longitudinal study (first wave conducted in May 2022; second in late April/May 2023). Results showed a drop in the general prosocial giving tendencies of both coins and money over time, which confirms the social support mobilization and deterioration theory. In particular, the willingness to give coins to a Ukrainian refugee and time to Ukrainian and Middle Eastern refugees, as well as a local organization operating for pro-environmental issues and a global organization operating for a better quality of life in the world decreased. Most coins and time were intended to be given to family, a friend, a neighbor, and a Ukrainian refugee, confirming the role of psychological proximity in helping intentions. We provide interpretations of the discovered patterns in the light of previous data. Our analysis may be useful in predicting prosocial giving tendencies, especially for researchers of prosociality, charity organizations, and policymakers.