Prosocial consumer behavior

• Prosocial consumer behavior research examines generosity in consumer contexts.
• Consumers give for both selfless and selfish reasons.
• Sympathy provides a coarse signal of recipient neediness, allowing bias.
• Emerging topics include charitable credit and judgments about brands’ generosity.

Prosocial consumer behavior refers to purchase behavior involving self-sacrifice for the good of others or of society. The research builds off both classic social psychology research on helping and research from the judgment and decision making literature on factors that distort optimal decision making. The research highlights the myriad types of motivation that induce prosocial behavior, including extrinsic rewards, reputational benefits, the pursuit of pleasure, and the avoidance of distress. In this article, we review recent findings in this area and we discuss two emerging topics: firstly, how consumers judge themselves and others who behave prosocially and secondly, how consumers respond to corporate partnerships with charity.