When is helping considered helping? The recipient’s view of helping during the stages of receiving help

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model that describes when helping is considered helping from the recipient’s point of view. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical model was conceptually developed by drawing upon attribution theory, self-consistency theory and social cognitive theory, as well as relevant literature. Findings: The authors propose that receiving help encompasses three sequential stages: the pre-help-receiving stage, the help-receiving stage and the post-help-receiving stage. Additionally, the authors theorize that the more other-oriented helping motives are attributed by the recipient, the more likely the recipient views the helper’s help as helping, that the more self-esteem preserving behaviors along with helping actions the recipient receives from the helper, the more likely the recipient views the helper’s help as helping and that the more gaps between actual and desired level of task performance are closed by the helper’s help, the more likely the recipient views the helper’s help as helping. Originality/value: From a theoretical standpoint, this paper offers a process approach that may guide future research on help receiving in organizations.