Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations
Building on previous research and theory on volunteerism, three pre-registered studies used message matching techniques to investigate the effects of self-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the volunteers) and other-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the recipients) and social...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2540163 |
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| _version_ | 1849240636233875456 |
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| author | Hyun-Suk Lee Mark Snyder Hyun Euh |
| author_facet | Hyun-Suk Lee Mark Snyder Hyun Euh |
| author_sort | Hyun-Suk Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Building on previous research and theory on volunteerism, three pre-registered studies used message matching techniques to investigate the effects of self-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the volunteers) and other-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the recipients) and social status in promoting volunteerism. Participants, randomly assigned, read either self-focused messages or other-focused messages that contained information about an opportunity to volunteer to help people in poverty. Then, they completed a set of self-report measures on the prospect of volunteering, intentions to volunteer, attitudes toward volunteering, empathy toward the recipients, and anticipated costs of becoming a volunteer. They also reported their perceived social status and household income. However, we did not find evidence that matching self-focused messages to individuals of higher status and other-focused messages to lower status individuals promoted volunteerism. The overall pattern of results suggests only limited effects of message matching with self- and other-oriented motivations across individuals with differing socioeconomic backgrounds. Building on this overall pattern of findings, we discussed the roles of social status, volunteer experience, and persuasive messages in promoting volunteerism. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-13a976e57f5d4b138042cfa14062f55a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2331-1908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-13a976e57f5d4b138042cfa14062f55a2025-08-20T04:00:32ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Psychology2331-19082025-12-0112110.1080/23311908.2025.2540163Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivationsHyun-Suk Lee0Mark Snyder1Hyun Euh2Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USAGies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USABuilding on previous research and theory on volunteerism, three pre-registered studies used message matching techniques to investigate the effects of self-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the volunteers) and other-focused messages (emphasizing the benefits to the recipients) and social status in promoting volunteerism. Participants, randomly assigned, read either self-focused messages or other-focused messages that contained information about an opportunity to volunteer to help people in poverty. Then, they completed a set of self-report measures on the prospect of volunteering, intentions to volunteer, attitudes toward volunteering, empathy toward the recipients, and anticipated costs of becoming a volunteer. They also reported their perceived social status and household income. However, we did not find evidence that matching self-focused messages to individuals of higher status and other-focused messages to lower status individuals promoted volunteerism. The overall pattern of results suggests only limited effects of message matching with self- and other-oriented motivations across individuals with differing socioeconomic backgrounds. Building on this overall pattern of findings, we discussed the roles of social status, volunteer experience, and persuasive messages in promoting volunteerism.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2540163Social statusvolunteer experiencevolunteer intentionmessage matchingpersuasionmotivation |
| spellingShingle | Hyun-Suk Lee Mark Snyder Hyun Euh Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations Cogent Psychology Social status volunteer experience volunteer intention message matching persuasion motivation |
| title | Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations |
| title_full | Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations |
| title_fullStr | Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations |
| title_short | Social status, volunteering, and community engagement: Matching messages to self- and other-oriented motivations |
| title_sort | social status volunteering and community engagement matching messages to self and other oriented motivations |
| topic | Social status volunteer experience volunteer intention message matching persuasion motivation |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2540163 |
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