Recipients' happiness in prosocial spending: The role of social ties

Abstract

In the past decade, a growing body of studies has explored spenders' happiness in prosocial spending (i.e., spending money on others). However, the happiness of recipients has been frequently ignored. Considering that most prosocial spending behaviors can be seen as a particular form of social interactions and emotional outcomes of social interactions depend on whom people interact with, the current study attempts to explore the influence of the social ties between spenders and recipients (strong vs. weak social ties) on recipients' happiness. More specifically, the present study also attempts to explain this influence from the aspect of basic psychological needs (i.e., relatedness, competence, and autonomy) satisfaction. Results of two studies reveal that gifts from strong social ties lead to recipients' greater happiness than those from weak social ties. Notably, relatedness satisfaction and competence satisfaction, but not autonomy satisfaction, explain this happiness effect of social ties.

The Neural and Psychological Processes of Peer-Influenced Online Donation Decision: An Event-Related Potential Study

“…Meanwhile, P3 has also been found to be sensitive to positive social feedback ( Van der Veen et al, 2016 ; Funkhouser et al, 2020 ; Yao et al, 2021 ). The results suggested that, in the current study, donors tended to use social donation to meet some of their own needs (e.g., conformity and relatedness needs) and gain emotional rewards accordingly since the conformity can bring self-approvement and rewarding relationships ( Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004 ), and the satisfaction of relatedness need can further arouse various positive emotions (e.g., the sense of well-being; Dunn et al, 2014 ; Dunn and Norton, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). Compared with the large number condition, the small number of donated peers indicated a lower magnitude of emotional reward and thus, indicating a lower motivation for the donors to form their final donation decision (reflected by a smaller amplitude of P3).…”

“…However, due to the dual effects of the characteristics of social media ( Wallace et al, 2017 ) and peer influence, donors showed higher attention to emotional reward perception in the early neural activity of decision-making, which is consistent with the previous discussion in the “Hypothesis”. Based on this, since a large number of donated peers represented more attention from peers on the donation project, compared with the low number condition-based decisions, decisions based on large number stimuli would bring a higher level of satisfaction of conformity and relatedness needs, that is, these decisions indicated a higher level of perspective emotional rewards ( Dunn et al, 2014 ; Dunn and Norton, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). In addition, some other studies may also provide some support for our conclusion.…”

“…On the other hand, previous research shows that P2 is sensitive to the emotional evaluation of prospective rewards, which means high perceived rewards will elicit a higher P2 amplitude than low perceived rewards ( Martin and Potts, 2004 ; Potts et al, 2006 ; Flores et al, 2015 ). In the current study, as we mentioned above, donors will be inclined to pay more attention to the fulfilment of their own needs when donating on social media ( Wallace et al, 2017 ), especially the need for conformity when peer influence is present ( Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004 ), and the satisfaction of those needs can provide positive emotional rewards ( Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004 ; Dunn et al, 2014 ; Dunn and Norton, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). We predict that the number of donated peers, which introduces peer influence in the social media donation, may further promote the motivation of donors to fulfil their own needs.…”

“…In detail, conformity provides an opportunity for individuals to consciously and deliberately gain social approval from others and build rewarding relationships while, in the process, increasing self-esteem ( Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004 ). The satisfaction of relatedness need, one of the Basic Psychological Needs ( Deci and Ryan, 2000 ), has been proved to arouse various positive emotions further (e.g., increasing sense of well-being; Dunn et al, 2014 ; Dunn and Norton, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). In addition, some studies have put forward similar views from the perspective of social media characteristics.…”

“…As mentioned above, the conformity need embodied in peer influence may bring donors an opportunity to consciously gain self-approval and build rewarding relationships ( Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004 ). The satisfaction of relatedness needs can further arouse positive emotional rewards, like increasing the sense of well-being ( Dunn et al, 2014 ; Dunn and Norton, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). In the current study, since peer-influenced donors may be more inclined to satisfy their own needs and gain the potential emotional rewards, especially in the social media context ( Wallace et al, 2017 ), Compared with the small number of donated peers, the large number condition may signal higher demand for conformity and relatedness needs and a higher degree of anticipated emotional rewards, indicating more significant donation motivations.…”