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Shaping future generosity: The role of injunctive social norms in intertemporal pro-social giving

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  • Lu, Teng
  • Liang, Dapeng
  • Hong, Mei

Abstract

Social norms are a key driving force in supporting pro-social behavior. However, existing studies focusing on the effects of norms often neglect the time signature of pro-social decisions, limiting its scope of explanation. The current study investigated the impact of injunctive norms (e.g., “This is the most socially normative donation”) on intertemporal pro-social giving across two experiments. Experiment 1 indicated that independent of social norms, generosity in economic sharing behavior decreased hyperbolically as time delay increased. Interestingly, the No norm group exhibited a steeper discounting function (i.e., less generous) than the High norm group. Experiment 2 extended these results and confirmed the mediating role of time perception. Overall, this research demonstrates that injunctive norms can influence individual intertemporal pro-social preferences and offers practical implications for increasing intertemporal pro-social giving using injunctive norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu, Teng & Liang, Dapeng & Hong, Mei, 2024. "Shaping future generosity: The role of injunctive social norms in intertemporal pro-social giving," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:102:y:2024:i:c:s0167487024000254
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2024.102717
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