Moderators and mediators of pro-social spending and well-being: The influence of values and psychological need satisfaction

• We test if values moderate the link between pro-social spending and happiness.
• We test if psychological need satisfaction mediates this relationship.
• People high in self-transcendence become happier from pro-social spending.
• People low in self-transcendence do not become happier from pro-social spending.
• Psychological need satisfaction mediates the relation for high self-transcendence.

Pro-social spending is associated with greater happiness than spending money on oneself (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008). However, research has yet to identify who is most likely to benefit from spending money on others, and why pro-social spending leads to greater happiness. The current study had two goals: (a) to examine whether values moderate the relation between pro-social spending and happiness, and (b) to test if psychological need satisfaction mediates this link. First, there was support for our interaction hypothesis. We found the positive relation between pro-social spending and happiness was only significant for individuals higher, and not those lower, on self-transcendence values (i.e., a concern for persons and entities outside of the individual). Additionally, the link from pro-social spending to happiness was mediated by psychological need satisfaction only for individuals higher on self-transcendence. We discuss why individuals who do not endorse a value system that emphasizes a concern for others experience no increased happiness from increased pro-social spending.