Doing good for (maybe) nothing: How reward uncertainty shapes observer responses to prosocial behavior

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Author(s)Silver, Ike
Author(s)Silverman, Jackie
Date Accessioned2024-03-11T18:17:08Z
Date Available2024-03-11T18:17:08Z
Publication Date2022-01-06
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.104113. This article will be embargoed until 01/06/2025. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
AbstractWhen firms or individuals stand to benefit from doing good, observers often question their motivations and discount their good deeds. We propose that this attribution process is sensitive not only to the presence of extrinsic incentives, but also to their prior likelihoods. Across eleven studies, observers treat uncertain rewards (vs. equally valuable certain rewards) as weaker signals of extrinsic motivation. Consequently, observers judge actors who do good when facing uncertain incentives as more purely motivated, benevolent, and likable, and they prefer products from brands that incur profit uncertainty when launching CSR initiatives. Even actors who are handsomely rewarded for doing good are judged favorably if rewards were uncertain at the outset. These effects may stem from more general processes of counterfactual attribution: Actors who do good knowing they might not be rewarded for it may seem more like they would have been willing to act without any incentive at all.
SponsorThanks to Cait Lamberton, Sydney Scott, Deborah Small, and the Wharton Decision Processes lab group for helpful comments, as well as Ella Kolln, Dylan Manfredi, and Nathaniel Spilka for research assistance. The Mack Institute for Innovation Management and the Wharton Behavioral Lab, both at the University of Pennsylvania, provided financial assistance.
CitationSilver, Ike, and Jackie Silverman. “Doing Good for (Maybe) Nothing: How Reward Uncertainty Shapes Observer Responses to Prosocial Behavior.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 168 (January 2022): 104113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.104113.
ISSN1095-9920
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/34162
Languageen_US
PublisherOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
TitleDoing good for (maybe) nothing: How reward uncertainty shapes observer responses to prosocial behavior
TypeArticle
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