Thinking, feeling, and giving: The effects of scope and valuation on consumer donations

Through a replication and extension of Hsee and Rottenstreich (2004), we examine how scope impacts consumer donation behavior. We find that consumers are more insensitive to scope when making donations if valuations are based on emotions as opposed to calculation. We then demonstrate how a consumer's ability to understand emotional information impacts their sensitivity to scope. Specifically, the less able consumers are to understand their emotions, the more likely they are to rely on scope when donating to charity.