Legitimizing Paltry Contributions: Testing Indirect Effects

This study was conducted to determine the mechanisms through which legitimizing paltry contributions (LPC) indirectly influences individuals’ likelihood of donating to charitable organizations. Three potential mediators were considered. After being solicited online, 1,035 participants reacted to one of four hypothetical scenarios distributed at random. Results indicated that LPC requests indirectly influenced individuals’ self-reported likelihood of donating largely through general affective evaluations of the request, their likelihood of experiencing self-conscious moral emotions, and to a lesser extent, the perceived need of the requestor.