Prosocial behaviourial spillover and nudging: A longitudinal quasi-experimental study on the moderating role of altruistic motives

• Published in: Acta psychologica Vol. 255; p. 104887
• Main Authors: Gupta, Parul, Prashar, Anupama
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.05.2025; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Altruism; Altruistic motives; Female; Humans; India; Longitudinal quasi-experimental design; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Motivation; Prosocial behaviour spillover; Prosocial nudging; Social Behavior; Young Adult; Young adults; India; Altruistic motives; Longitudinal quasi-experimental design; Prosocial behaviour spillover; Young adults; Prosocial nudging
• ISSN: 0001-6918; 1873-6297; 1873-6297
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104887

This study investigates the extent to which prosocial nudging is instrumental in fostering spillover effects of prosocial behaviours among young adults. Also, it examines how the interplay of prosocial behavioural spillover and altruistic motives is shaped in a nudged environment. A longitudinal quasi-experimental study was conducted to test the hypothesized effects of prosocial nudging on young adults. The subjects were 104 postgraduate students from a higher education institute in India who had donated blood recently. A pretest-posttest design was adopted to test the effect of experimental interventions implemented on a university campus. The experimental data was analysed using hierarchical regression models. The results offer insights into the design of prosocial nudging mechanisms supporting behavioural spillover from easy to difficult prosocial behaviour among young adults. The findings also demonstrate how nudging enables the transition of pseudo- to pure altruistic motives.