ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (4): 526-543.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0526 cstr: 32110.14.2025.0526

• 亲社会行为专刊(2) • 上一篇    下一篇

时间标志对炫耀性亲社会行为意愿的影响

蒯玲1, 卫海英1,2(), 姚琦3, 肖婷文4, 谢升成1   

  1. 1暨南大学管理学院, 广州 510632
    2广州品牌创新发展研究基地, 广州 510632
    3重庆交通大学经济与管理学院, 重庆 400074
    4江西财经大学工商管理学院, 南昌 330032
  • 收稿日期:2023-10-01 发布日期:2025-02-06 出版日期:2025-04-25
  • 通讯作者: 卫海英, E-mail: tweihy@126.com
  • 基金资助:
    国家社会科学基金重点项目(24AGL031)

The impact of temporal landmarks on the willingness of conspicuous prosocial behavior

KUAI Ling1, WEI Haiying1,2(), YAO Qi3, XIAO Tingwen4, XIE Shengcheng1   

  1. 1School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
    2Research Institute on Brand Innovation and Development of Guangzhou, Guangzhou 510632, China
    3School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
    4School of Business Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330032, China
  • Received:2023-10-01 Online:2025-02-06 Published:2025-04-25

摘要:

个体参与炫耀性亲社会行为的意愿会受到环境因素的影响。基于自我意识理论和高成本代价信号理论, 本文探索了时间标志对炫耀性亲社会行为意愿的影响。通过6个实验, 结果证实:在一段时间的开始(vs. 结束), 个体更倾向于从事炫耀性亲社会行为(实验1a、实验1b和实验1c)。其解释机制在于开端时间标志会激发个体的状态性公我意识(实验2a和实验2b)。进一步分析发现, 自我监控在上述影响中发挥调节作用, 对于低自我监控者, 时间标志的启动难以有效地影响参与者的炫耀性亲社会行为意愿(实验3)。本文拓展了时间标志与炫耀性亲社会行为的相关研究, 同时为慈善组织或企业在关键时间节点策划公益营销活动提供实践指导。

关键词: 时间标志, 炫耀性亲社会行为, 状态性公我意识, 自我监控

Abstract:

Conspicuous prosocial behavior refers to prosocial behavior that expresses a positive self-image to others through public display. Previous studies have focused on the impact of individual psychological factors on conspicuous prosocial behavior. However, individuals’ participation in conspicuous prosocial behaviors changes under the influence of contextual factors. Based on self-awareness theory and costly signaling theory, this study explores the mechanism and boundary condition under which the situational factor of temporal landmarks affects the willingness to engage in conspicuous prosocial behavior.

Six experiments were conducted to test this study’s hypotheses. Experiments 1a, 1b, and 1c explored the effects of temporal landmarks on the willingness to engage in conspicuous prosocial behavior. Experiment 1a (N = 140, 84 females) employed a 3 (temporal landmarks: start vs. end vs. control, between groups) × 2 (recycling sign: yes vs. no, within groups) mixed experimental design wherein participants were randomly assigned to the start group (6:00~9:00), end group (19:00~22:00), and control group (rest of the day). Experiment 1b (N = 198, 123 females) employed a 2 (temporal landmarks: start vs. end) × 2 (conspicuous: public vs. anonymous) between-subjects design to validate the effect of the start/end of the month on the behavior of publicly donating hematopoietic stem cells. Experiment 1c (N = 195, 117 females) employed a 2 (temporal landmarks: start vs. end) × 2 (conspicuous: public vs. anonymous) between-subjects design to explore the impact of participants’ donation intention and amount on Monday/Friday in the public/anonymous context. Experiment 2a (N = 141, 103 females) employed a single-factor (temporal landmarks: start vs. end) between-subjects design that used conspicuous kindness as an indicator of conspicuous prosocial behavior and measured participants’ situational public self-awareness. Experiment 2b (N = 249, 172 women) employed a 2 (temporal landmarks: start vs. end) × 3 (conspicuous products: prosocial products vs. luxury goods vs. control) between-subjects design to investigate whether temporal landmarks affected conspicuous prosocial or other conspicuous behaviors. Experiment 3 (N = 194, 127 females) employed a single-factor (temporal landmarks: start vs. end) between-subjects design, with both groups completing the experiment on July 1. The difference between the start and end groups was that the former emphasized the beginning of the month, whereas the latter emphasized Saturday. The participants reported their self-monitoring levels, situational public self-awareness, and willingness to engage in conspicuous prosocial behavior.

Experiment 1a revealed that individuals preferred to purchase conspicuous prosocial products when initiating start (vs. end) temporal landmarks. Experiment 1b indicated that participants in the start group (end group) were more willing to leave an e-mail to make an appointment to donate hematopoietic stem cells under the public (anonymous) condition. Experiment 1c demonstrated that at the beginning of a period, participants were more likely to make charitable donations and give higher amounts when the donors’ names were disclosed. Experiment 2a illustrated that the above effects were driven by situational public self-awareness. The beginning of a period motivated participants’ public self-awareness, making them more inclined to engage in conspicuous prosocial behaviors. Experiment 2b indicated that the start temporal effect existed only for conspicuous prosocial goods (vs. luxury goods vs. control condition). Experiment 3 examined the moderating role of self-monitoring levels. Individuals with high self-monitoring were more inclined to engage in conspicuous prosocial behavior at the beginning (vs. end) of a period, whereas, for individuals with low self-monitoring levels, temporal landmarks did not effectively influence their conspicuous prosocial behavior.

This study reveals the relationship between temporal landmarks and conspicuous prosocial behavior, which has theoretical implications for the literature on temporal landmarks and conspicuous prosocial behavior as well as provides practical guidance for marketing managers to encourage individuals to engage in prosocial actions corresponding to temporal landmarks.

Key words: temporal landmarks, conspicuous prosocial behavior, situational public self-awareness, self-monitoring

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