When considering donation, donors may evaluate causes of need and deservedness of recipients (Bekers & Wiepking, 2011). The plight of recipients may be attributed to their misbehaviors (e.g., laziness) or social problems (e.g., poor welfare), which in turn influences donation decisions. To maximize persuasiveness of donation appeals, therefore, marketers of charity events should decide how to describe donation recipients. How potential donors perceive recipient responsibility also interacts with donor characteristics (Lee, Winterich, & Ross, 2014). We investigate how causes of need interact with donors’ cultural background to determine reactions to donation appeals. Drawing upon research on the cultural differences in thinking styles and causal attributions (Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998), we propose that donation appeals are better accepted when there is a correspondence between donors’ cultural background and causes of need than when such correspondence lacks. We find that Westerners and Easterners show distinctive reactions to charity appeals that present different causes of need. Specifically, we demonstrate that Westerners are more attracted to appeals with external causes, whereas Easterners are relatively unconcerned about causes of need. We also offer insight into the process via empathy and outcome efficacy through which cause of need and culture collaboratively affect persuasiveness of charity appeals. Empathy drives the effect for both Westerners and Easters; outcome efficacy drives the effect for Westerners only.

We study liberals and conservatives in the United States and Korea to see how they respond to charity advertising that appeals to either equality or proportionality. The findings robustly demonstrate that in both countries, liberals respond more favorably to equality appeals, but conservatives respond more favorably to proportionality appeals. Study 1, conducted in the United States, finds that liberals find equality appeals more effective, but conservatives find proportionality appeals more effective. Study 2, conducted in Korea, shows that liberals (conservatives) estimate that they are more (less) likely to receive rewards for donating when charity advertising uses equality rather than proportionality appeals.