A prevailing view in behavioral science is that when more people need help, more people will step up to provide it. We challenge this “more need, more help” assumption by theorizing and demonstrating that the opposite phenomenon – “more need, less help” – can also occur. We argue that traumatic shocks which increase help-seeking behavior can also paradoxically decrease help-giving behavior, because traumatic shocks can induce distress not only among help-seekers but also among help-givers, which can undermine help-givers' capacity to engage in high-effort helping behaviors that are cognitively or emotionally demanding. We test our argument using quasi-experimental analyses that test the impact of disaster days (days when plausibly random major disasters happen) on help-giving and help-seeking using five years of data from a large US-based crisis helpline organization, staffed by volunteer crisis counselors. We find that major disasters (e.g., mass shootings, hurricanes, earthquakes, and natural fires) increase help-seeking behavior while simultaneously decreasing help-giving behavior by the volunteer crisis counselors. In placebo tests, as expected, we find no “effects” of major disasters during pre-disaster days, which should boost confidence in our causal inference approach. Moreover, both effects are amplified when disasters cause relatively more fatalities, but not when disasters cause relatively more economic damage. Our findings reveal that help-giving behavior may decrease precisely when it is needed the most, giving rise to a supply-demand paradox with important theoretical and practical implications.

Authors:
Polly Kang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
David Daniels, National University of Singapore, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Polly is an Asst Prof at Nanyang Technological University. She tests how feelings drive decisions in negotiations & organizations & how people can lead more productive, generous, & fulfilling lives by using big data & cutting-edge quantitative tools.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.pollykang.com/

Additional website of interest
https://www.pollykang.com/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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