Too Painful to Donate: Why Don’t People Donate to Critical Illness Campaigns?
研究发现，在在线筹款平台上，标题中包含危重疾病名称会因引发预期痛苦而降低捐赠意愿，捐赠者倾向于选择其他能表达共情的替代项目。
Charitable donations are increasingly shifting to online fundraising platforms, where numerous campaigns are displayed simultaneously. This research examines the role of campaign titles in attracting online traffic in this competitive environment, focusing specifically on a major category of medical fundraising. While fundraisers commonly include the names of critical illnesses in campaign titles (critical illness titles), the findings suggest that this emotion-laden driver can negatively impact donation performance. A series of seven studies—combining secondary data, field experiments, and controlled experiments—provides robust evidence for this undesirable critical illness title effect. Moreover, three studies offer mediation and moderation evidence showing that anticipated distress drives this effect. Donors tend to avoid critical illness title campaigns, opting instead for alternatives that still enable them to express empathy. However, this effect diminishes when there is a nondistress cue or when the alternatives are nonjustifiable. This research contributes to the literature on charitable crowdfunding, prosocial behavior, and title effects, offering important practical implications for fundraisers.