Should charitable acts be private or publicly visible? A dilemma for charitable organizations

While the subject of egoism/altruism has been widely explored in psychology literature, deeper understanding of the effects of egoism/altruism on charitable supporters' emotional responses to charitable appeals is promising but underexplored. Therefore, this research aims to apply cases of egoism/altruism and self‐referencing to examine whether the style of private vs. public recognition can moderate charitable supporters' willingness to donate. The experiment investigated the effect of egoism/altruism on charitable supporters' evaluations of the charitable appeals, through viewing a series of print posters that varied in private/public recognition and low/high self‐referencing. A total of 225 participants recruited from working students who have a full‐time job and enrolled in marketing courses in a mid‐western university in China were randomly assigned to a 2 (recognition style: private vs. public) × 2 (self‐referencing: low vs. high) between‐subjects factorial design. Results demonstrate that for charitable supporters with altruistic and egoistic dispositions, charitable appeals characterized by private vs. public recognition and low vs. high self‐referencing will elicit differential willingness to donate. This research takes up the call to address the limited attention given to private vs. public recognition in the context of charitable giving. Specifically, this research aims to explore how charitable supporters' altruism vs. egoism influences their willingness to donate and the role of moderating effects such as private vs. public recognition and self‐referencing in this context.