How does money phrasing influence intention to donate: The role of construal level and fit

Abstract Charitable causes and monetary donation requests are two indispensable components of fundraising messages. A wealth of research focused on the effect of charitable cause phrasing on donation. However, few researchers explored the phrasing of monetary donation requests associated. Since past research suggested that different money phrasing could activate different construal levels, we propose that if the construal levels activated by charitable cause and money phrasing are aligned (misaligned), charitable giving intentions and amount may increase (decrease). In a series of six studies, we adopt various manipulations of charitable cause phrasing and monetary donation request phrasing, examine different donation targets, and measure donation intentions and amount. We verified the proposed fit effect that if participants encountered low construal level charitable causes, they would engage in higher donation intentions when the monetary donation request phrasing triggers a concrete mindset (i.e., a specific amount of money with specific usage) rather than an abstract mindset (i.e., a specific amount of money), while if they encountered high construal level charitable causes, this impact reversed.