The First-Person Effect of Anti-Panhandling Public Service Announcement Messages on Promotional Behaviors and Donation Intentions

This research examines the first-person effect (FPE) of anti-panhandling public service announcement (PSA) messages on promotional behaviors and donation intentions. A survey was administered to 660 participants recruited from Mechanical Turk’s Master Workers. As predicted, respondents rated a greater impact of the messages on all referent others than on themselves. However, as the message desirability of the anti-panhandling PSAs increases, the first-person perception (FPP) was found to become larger. On the behavioral component of FPE, the current study also adds empirical evidence that FPP of PSAs increases the audience’s engagements in donation behaviors as well as promotional behaviors. The effect of FPP on promotional behaviors was stronger than the effect on donation behaviors. Lastly, the effect of message desirability on promotional behaviors was partially mediated through the FPP.