Differential effect of self-focused and other-focused prosocial spending on hedonic and eudaemonic well-being

Abstract

Past research has demonstrated that prosocial spending behavior, which is the act of spending money to benefit others, could be powered by both egoistic and altruistic motives. Further, prosocial spending powered by different underlying motives may have different effect on one’s well-being. Expanding the scope of study to a non-Western Hong Kong sample, the present research tested whether existing empirical tools could accurately capture prosocial motivations across culture, and their differential effect on hedonic and eudaemonic well-being. Our results showed successful activation of self-focused versus other-focused prosocial spending motives, however, the motives did not translate into significant difference in well-being outcomes in the current sample. Nevertheless, the findings offer new preliminary evidence on how culture could impact the way prosocial motives are experienced and expressed, and points to potential future direction of research on understanding prosocial motives within the context of cultural values.