Turning narcissists into prosocial agents: explaining young people's online donation behavior

Purpose – This study aims to empirically test the proposition that high narcissistic consumers are more
likely to perform donation-related behavior, such as the intention to donate and to share the donation link,
compared to low narcissistic consumers when the organization’s reputation is high. Built upon the
evolutionary psychology theory, this study proposes that narcissism activates the status motive, and the
relationship between narcissism, organization reputation and donation-related behavior can be
explained by status motive.
Design/methodology/approach – The current research comprises two between-subject experimental
studies that use both measured and manipulated narcissism subsequently, whereas the organization’s
reputation was manipulated in both studies.
Findings – The results demonstrate that narcissistic consumers are more likely to donate and to share
the donation advertisement when the donation organization is perceived as having a high (vs low)
prestige. Further, the status motive mediates the effect of narcissism on donation decisions only when the
donation organization is perceived as having high (vs low) prestige.
Research limitations/implications – This research’s main limitation is that it only examines two
alternate ways to improve perceived organization’s reputation (e.g. highlight the organization’s
reputational features and link to reputable entities such as celebrities), although organizational literature
suggests that perceived organization reputation can be improved in many ways.
Practical implications – From a practical perspective, social marketers and donation organizations
potentially benefit from this research because it demonstrates that high narcissistic consumers
potentially involve in donation-related behaviors more than consumers with low narcissism when the
organization is perceived as highly reputable.
Originality/value – The current research contributes to the narcissism literature and adds to the
evolutionary psychology theory by providing empirical evidence that narcissism, whether manifesting as
a trait or a state, can activate a status motive that leads to prosocial behavior, but only when the donation
organization is perceived as prestigious.