Donation Request (Identifiable Victim Frame)

What it measures

A four-item scale measuring the degree to which a donation request communication uses an identifiable victim appeal — presenting a single representative individual whose personal story, vivid details, and representativeness of a larger affected group are emphasised. Items capture whether the appeal focuses on a single victim, uses a representative individual, provides personal information, and delivers a vivid narrative. Developed for research on the identifiable victim effect in charitable fundraising, the scale enables researchers to verify the effectiveness of identifiable victim framing manipulations.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• shows/uses a single victim to describe the severity of the _____.
• uses a victim that is representative of a larger group to describe the severity of the _____.
• gives me personal information about the victim(s).
• tells a story with vivid information about the victim(s).

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK FORMAT: The blank in items 1 and 2 should be replaced with the name of the cause or crisis being communicated (e.g., 'disaster', 'health crisis'). Single alpha: α = .82 — Van Esch, Cui & Jain (2021, Study 3; n = 319 MTurk). VALIDITY: Used as manipulation check; successful detection provides preliminary predictive validity. Scale appears original to the authors, drawing conceptually on identifiable victim effect literature by Cryder, Loewenstein & Scheines (2013) and Small, Loewenstein & Slovic (2007).

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Van Esch, Patrick, Y. Gloria Cui, and Shailendra P. Jain (2021). Stimulating or intimidating: The effect of AI-enabled in-store communication on consumer buying. Journal of Marketing, 85(3), 287–304.

Keywords