기부자 권력거리신념이 크라우드펀딩 기부의도에 미치는 영향: 수혜자 필요형태의 조절효과를 중심으로

Donations through crowdfunding have recently attracted increasing attention due to its extensive applications. Crowdfunding donations are distinct from typical donations in the sense that the donation behaviors through crowdfunding are more visible since givers can observe their own donating behaviors along with other people’s donations. The current research investigates the effect of donors’ power distance belief (PDB) on their donation intentions. Specifically, the current work categorizes the need type of donation receivers into two – i.e., controllable need vs. uncontrollable need – and tests whether the need type of receivers moderates the effect of donors’ PDB on their donation intentions. To test this prediction, two studies were conducted in Amazon Mechanical Turk(Mturk). The results show that the effect of donors’ PDB on their donation intension is significant and positive, and this relationship is mediated by donors’ perceived empathy and responsibility. More central to the current research, the effect of PDB on donation intention is moderated by receivers’ need type, such that the effect of PDB is greater in the controllable need type condition than in the uncontrollable need type condition. That is, in the controllable need type condition, donors with high PDB are more likely to perceive empathy and responsibility to receivers, resulting in greater donation intensions. Taken together, the current work carries theoretical implication for research on donations by showing that the positive effect of donors’ PDB on their donation intentions is moderated by receivers’ need type and this effect is mediated by donors’ perceived empathy and responsibility. In addition, the results of the current work also provide very useful practical implications to global companies that seek to plan donation campaigns.