The effects of temperature cues on charitable donation

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how the perception of physical coldness (vs warmth) influences consumers to make charitable donations. Design/methodology/approach Three experiments were conducted involving charitable donation scenarios. Findings Studies demonstrate that cold (vs warm) temperature cues result in greater intentions to donate to charities. Specifically, cold (vs warmth) cues activate the need for social connection which, in turn, motivate consumers to donate more money to charities. Furthermore, this effect holds even when the actual temperature instead of temperature cues is changed, and participants’ actual donation behavior instead of donation intentions is measured, thereby, strengthening the findings of this paper. Research limitations/implications Boundary conditions associated with the effect of temperature cues need empirical investigation. Future research needs to investigate if the effect holds with variability of coldness. Future research also needs to determine whether the documented effect occur across various pro-social contexts. Practical implications The results suggest that non-profit organizations incorporate “cold” cues into advertisements (people feeling cold or cold landscapes) to increase monetary donations and that these organizations should focus on targeting donors during wintertime (vs summer time) to get more donations. Originality/value This is the first research to demonstrate the effects of temperature cues on charitable donations. The added value of this paper is the use of physical temperature change to highlight the phenomenon, and the link between cold (vs warm) temperature cue and the need of social connection.