Purpose

Online charitable giving is prevalent, and how to attract individuals' attention to donate is essential for charities. Little is known about the interaction effect of empathy (donor) and vulnerability (receiver) on donate intention. To bridge this gap, this study aims to investigate whether the influence of empathy on charitable giving would be moderated by receivers' vulnerability, and if yes, what is the mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

Five experiments were conducted in the context of charitable giving with 1,303 participants to test our hypotheses.

Findings

When empathetic individuals confronted high vulnerable receivers, they were less likely to donate; otherwise, they were more likely to donate when they confronted low vulnerable receivers, and this interaction effect was mediated by concern about self.

Originality/value

The present research identifies a novel moderator of the effect of empathy on charitable giving and elucidates the underlying mechanism of concern about self. Based on these findings, the authors provide actionable implications for charities by demonstrating the interaction effect of empathy and vulnerability on donate intention.

中文翻译：

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同理心损害美德：同理心和脆弱性对慈善捐赠的影响

目的

在线慈善捐赠盛行，如何吸引个人注意力进行捐赠是慈善事业的关键。关于同理心（捐赠者）和脆弱性（接受者）对捐赠意愿的交互作用知之甚少。为了弥合这一差距，本研究旨在调查同理心对慈善捐赠的影响是否会受到接受者的脆弱性的影响，如果是，其机制是什么。

设计/方法/方法

在慈善捐赠的背景下进行了五项实验，共有 1,303 名参与者来测试我们的假设。

发现

当善解人意的人面对高度脆弱的接受者时，他们不太可能捐赠；否则，当他们面对低脆弱性接受者时，他们更有可能捐赠，而这种互动效应是由对自我的关注所介导的。

原创性/价值

本研究确定了同理心对慈善捐赠影响的新调节器，并阐明了关注自我的潜在机制。基于这些发现，作者通过展示同理心和脆弱性对捐赠意愿的交互作用，为慈善机构提供了可操作的启示。