IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iuj/wpaper/ems_2026_05.html

Abstract vs. Concrete Messages: Reassessing the Impact of Construal Level on Prosocial Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Sheehan

    (IUJ Research Institute, International University of Japan)

  • Pramodhya Dissanayake

Abstract

Construal level theory suggests that abstract versus concrete messages can influence prosocial behavior. However, results from the empirical literature remain inconclusive. This paper examines the effect of seven different sets of concrete vs. abstract messages upon prosocial behavior. This was done while holding the message context, sample characteristics, and measurement constant. The results suggest the impacts of message abstraction on attitudes, behavioral intent, and message involvement are small and vary in direction. Three of the seven studies show statistically significant differences, but an optimal framing approach does not emerge. A pooled analysis suggests no overall effect. These findings suggest that construal level effects in prosocial contexts may be sensitive to the specific way in which abstraction is operationalized.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Sheehan & Pramodhya Dissanayake, 2026. "Abstract vs. Concrete Messages: Reassessing the Impact of Construal Level on Prosocial Behavior," Working Papers EMS_2026_05, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2026_05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.iuj.ac.jp/workingpapers/index.cfm?File=EMS_2026_05.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2026
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Didi Alaoui, Mohamed & Valette-Florence, Pierre & Cova, Véronique, 2022. "How psychological distance shapes hedonic consumption: The moderating role of the need to justify," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 57-69.
    2. Mohamed Didi Alaoui & Pierre Valette-Florence & Véronique Cova, 2022. "How psychological distance shapes hedonic consumption: The moderating role of the need to justify," Post-Print hal-03627681, HAL.
    3. Charlotte Jones & Donald W. Hine & Anthony D. G. Marks, 2017. "The Future is Now: Reducing Psychological Distance to Increase Public Engagement with Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 331-341, February.
    4. Yeung-Jo Kim & Jongwon Park & Robert S. Wyer Jr., 2009. "Effects of Temporal Distance and Memory on Consumer Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(4), pages 634-645, December.
    5. Palan, Stefan & Schitter, Christian, 2018. "Prolific.ac—A subject pool for online experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 22-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiang, Kan & Mo, Silan & Qin, Meilian, 2024. "Descriptive or injunctive? The effect of sustainable normative appeals and advertising orientations on environmentally responsible consumption behavior in a collective action perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Byun, Kyung-Ah & Hong, JungHwa & William James, Kevin, 2023. "When does a goal-appeal match affect consumer satisfaction? Examining the work and play context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Wu, Xuepin & Ma, Yongjun, 2023. "Research on the comparison effect of urban residents' consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Yan, Huili & Tian, Tian & Xiong, Hao, 2025. "The power of emojis: Enhancing the willingness to adopt chatbot recommendations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Jingtao Yin & Helen S. Du & Xinyi Li & Pei Liang, 2025. "Embracing Low‐Carbon Consumption With Gamification: Exploring Multiple Dimensional Interventions With a Multiagent Modeling Approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(7), pages 3748-3762, October.
    6. Grossman, Ori & Rachamim, Matti, 2024. "How can coffee shops draw customers back after COVID-19? the influence of psychological distance on coffee versus tea preference," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. Lu, Yangyang & Zhang, Jing, 2025. "Balancing identity diversity and product contexts: Understanding consumer trust in AI-enhanced chatbot services," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Ni, Dan & Jiwen Song, Lynda & Zheng, Xiaoming & Zhu, Jinlong & Zhang, Mengyi & Xu, Lingxiao, 2022. "Extending a helping hand: How receiving gratitude makes a difference in employee performance during a crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 967-982.
    9. Julie Bayle-Cordier & Loïc Berger & Rayan Elatmani & Massimo Tavoni, 2023. "Breath, Love, Walk? The Impact of Mindfulness Interventions on Climate Policy Support and Environmental Attitudes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, July.
    10. Calvin Thigpen & Kelcie Ralph & Nicholas J. Klein & Anne Brown, 2023. "Can information increase support for transportation reform? Results from an experiment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 893-912, June.
    11. Roger Gans, 2025. "I Guess You Twisted My Arm: Effects of Elaboration, Reactance and Politics on Responses to Covid-19 Vaccination Advocacy Messages," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, September.
    12. Can, Ali Selcuk & Ekinci, Yuksel & Pino, Giovanni, 2021. "Joint brand advertising for emerging heritage sites," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Annika Hillebrandt & Daniel L. Brady & Maria Francisca Saldanha & Laurie J. Barclay, 2023. "The Paradox of Paranoia: How One’s Own Self-Interested Unethical Behavior Can Spark Paranoia and Reduce Affiliative Behavior Toward Coworkers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 159-173, April.
    14. Feess, Eberhard & Schilling, Thomas & Timofeyev, Yuriy, 2023. "Misreporting in teams with individual decision making: The impact of information and communication," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 509-532.
    15. Kobayashi, Yoshiharu & Heinrich, Tobias & Bryant, Kristin A., 2021. "Public support for development aid during the COVID-19 pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    16. Preston Greene, 2024. "Social bias, not time bias," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 100-121, February.
    17. Hensel, Lukas & Witte, Marc & Caria, A. Stefano & Fetzer, Thiemo & Fiorin, Stefano & Götz, Friedrich M. & Gomez, Margarita & Haushofer, Johannes & Ivchenko, Andriy & Kraft-Todd, Gordon & Reutskaja, El, 2022. "Global Behaviors, Perceptions, and the Emergence of Social Norms at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 473-496.
    18. Marco Catola & Simone D'Alessandro & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol, 2020. "Multilevel Public Goods Game: an Online Experiment," Discussion Papers 2020/263, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    19. Shuhua Sun, 2022. "Is Political Skill Always Beneficial? Why and When Politically Skilled Employees Become Targets of Coworker Social Undermining," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(3), pages 1142-1162, May.
    20. Irmela Fritzi Koch-Bayram & Torsten Biemann, 2024. "How Corporate Social (Ir)Responsibility Influences Employees’ Private Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 103-118, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2026_05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Toshiyuki Moriyama, Office of Academic Affairs (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gsiujjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.