I Was Thinking to Help but Then I Changed My Mind! The Influence of Injunctive and Descriptive Norms on the Donation Intention-behavior Link

ABSTRACT Public donations represent a substantial part of a charitable organization’s income. Thus, it is important to understand what influences donation behavior. Researchers mainly focus on intentions, rather than behavior. Although intentions often lead to behavior, there might be a gap between them. This experimental study investigated whether and how aligned and unaligned injunctive (what the majority of people approve of) and descriptive (what the majority of people do) social norms moderate the intention-behavior link. Additionally, I checked whether personal involvement moderates the influence of social norms. Four hundred and twenty-eight respondents were randomly assigned to one of the five conditions where the injunctive and descriptive norms were manipulated. Results revealed a significant and positive relationship between intentions and behavior (p = .000); this relationship is moderated by both aligned (supportive injunctive and descriptive) (p = .01) and unaligned (unsupportive injunctive and supportive descriptive) norms (p = .037). Personal involvement does not affect the moderating power of social norms. Findings are important for better understanding the intentions-behavior-norms dynamic. This can be used to create effective marketing strategies to make sure both favorable and unfavorable intentions translate into monetary donations.