The Influence of Visual Cues on Consumer Donations
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Date
2020-09-24
Authors
Paik, Sung-Hee
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This dissertation explores how visual cues, such as a victim’s image or the color used in a donation appeal, can influence consumers’ donation intention. The first main chapter, “Less is More: The Benefit of Using Blurry Versus High-Resolution Victim Images in Donation Appeals,” discusses the unusual and unexpected backfire effect of using high-resolution victim images in appeals. More specifically, using a higher quality image can bring about less desirable outcomes compared with those of a moderately blurred image. A further analysis of this effect revealed that donors’ perception of dissimilarities between themselves and victims moderates the image blurriness effect. In addition, donors’ perceived dissimilarities between donors and victims create longer image processing time and enhance donors’ cause involvement. The results further show that the stronger involvement created by a moderate image blurriness serves as a mediator and leads to more willingness to donate.
The second main chapter, “Red Versus Blue: How Color Can Make Consumers More Sensitive to Mass Suffering,” examines the use of color (i.e., red vs. blue) to present numeric information about victims in donation appeals. The color can potentially influence consumers’ sensitivity to victim statistics and thus affect donation intention. In particular, evidence was found that, when a congruence exists between message framing (i.e., prevention focused vs. promotion focused) and color (i.e., red vs. blue), individuals become more sensitive to the number of victims when making donation decisions.