医疗众筹慈善诉求的信息表达对个体捐赠的影响

Influence of Information Expression of Medical Crowdfunding Charitable Appeal on Individual Donation

近年来,医疗众筹快速发展,为许多患有重大疾病的人提供了资金帮助,但有不少医疗众筹项目不能筹集到所需的资金。在医疗众筹平台上,求助者通过撰写慈善诉求描述个体的患病经历和经济困难情况吸引潜在捐赠者。因此,医疗众筹项目的慈善诉求成为潜在捐赠者关注的重点。已有研究主要集中于慈善诉求的信息内容上,忽视了慈善诉求的信息表达对捐赠意愿的影响。在医疗众筹慈善诉求中采用不同的信息框架(得益或损失)和求助者不同的面部表情图片(积极或消极)可能对捐赠者的捐赠意愿产生不一样的影响,根据刺激-机体-反应模型和动机理论,构建信息表达(信息框架和求助者面部表情)、捐赠动机、捐赠意愿三者之间的关系模型,采用组间实验设计检验假设,运用Bootstrap方法检验个体动机的中介作用。研究结果表明,医疗众筹慈善诉求采用得益框架或损失框架对捐赠意愿的直接作用没有显著差异,求助者积极或消极的面部表情对捐赠意愿的直接作用也没有显著差异。但信息框架和面部表情可以通过刺激个体动机影响捐赠者的捐赠意愿。具体而言,得益框架和求助者积极面部表情这类正向的信息表达会刺激个体的利他主义,而利他主义显著影响个体的捐赠意愿。损失框架和求助者消极面部表情这类负向的信息表达会唤起个体的内疚感,内疚感在求助者面部表情与捐赠意愿之间发挥中介作用。此外,信息框架与求助者面部表情存在交互作用,即信息框架与求助者面部表情表达的情绪不一致时,捐赠者的内疚感更高。研究结果有助于增进人们对医疗众筹慈善诉求的信息表达对捐赠者的捐赠意愿影响的理解,拓展了刺激-机体-反应模型和动机理论在医疗众筹领域的运用,为医疗众筹平台的运营者和求助者如何更好地进行信息表达提供了建议。

Medical crowdfunding has grown rapidly in recent years,providing financial help to many people suffering from serious illnesses.However,there are still many medical crowdfunding projects that fail to raise the required money.On medical crowdfunding platforms,beneficiaries can write their own charitable appeals to describe their personal experiences of illness and financial hardship to attract potential donors.Therefore,the charitable appeals of medical crowdfunding projects have become a key concern for potential donors.However,previous research has mainly focused on the information content of charitable appeal,ignoring the influence of the information expression of charitable appeal on individuals′intention to donate.Different message framings(gain-based frame or loss-based frame)and beneficiary′s facial expressions(positive or negative)in medical crowdfunding charitable appeals may exert differential effects on donors′intention to donate.Based on the S-O-R(Stimulus-Organism-Response)model and motivation theory,this study develops a research model reflecting the interrelationship among information expressions(message framing and beneficiary′s facial expressions),individual motivations,and donation intention.A between-group experiment is designed to test the hypotheses,and a Bootstrap method is used to test the mediation effects of individual motivations.The results indicate that there is no significant difference in the direct effect of gain-based frame or loss-based frame of medical crowdfunding charitable appeals on donation intention.And there is also no significant difference in the direct effect of positive or negative facial expressions of beneficiary on intention to donate.Alternatively,message framing and beneficiary’s facial expressions could influence an donors′donation intention by stimulating his/her motivations.Specifically,positive information expressions(gain-based frame or positive beneficiary′s facial expression)could stimulate altruism,which in turn significantly influence an individual′s intention to donate.Negative information expressions(loss-based frame or negative beneficiary′s facial expression)could evoke feelings of guilt,which plays a mediating role between beneficiary′s facial expressions and donation intention.In addition,the results also indicate an interaction between the message framing and beneficiary′s facial expression,which is,potential donors′guilt is higher when the beneficiary′s facial expression is congruent with the message framing.The findings contribute to the understanding of the impacts of information expressions of medical crowdfunding charitable appeal on individual donation intention.This study also extends the application of S-O-R model and motivation theory in the field of medical crowdfunding.The findings are of practical significance and provide suggestions for medical crowdfunding platforms′operators and beneficiaries on how to express charity appeal better.