Pleasure-Based Prosocial Motivation Scale

What it measures

Measures the anticipation of pleasure and positive affect derived from helping and benefitting others. Developed by Gebauer et al. (2008) to distinguish intrinsically-regulated, autonomous prosocial motivation (pleasure-based) from extrinsically-regulated, controlled prosocial motivation (pressure-based). Aligned with promotion-focused ideal representations. Shown by Thu et al. to be a necessary condition for sustainability marketing commitment among CMOs.

Response format

7-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)

Scale items

• Supporting other people makes me very happy.
• I have a great feeling of happiness when I have acted unselfishly.
• When I was able to help other people, I always felt good afterwards.
• Helping people who are not doing well raises my own mood.

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

Usage notes & scoring

From Gebauer, J.E., Riketta, M., Broemer, P., & Maio, G.R. (2008). Pleasure and pressure based prosocial motivation: Divergent relations to subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(2), 399–420. Original scale validated in multi-country samples; alpha = .80. Necessary condition analysis in Thu et al. (2023) showed this scale represents the only necessary condition (among future focus and both motivation types) for firms' sustainability marketing commitment.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Thu, N.N.Q., Kadirov, D., Fam, K-S., & Tho, N.D. (2023). Firms' sustainability marketing commitment: The roles of chief marketing officers' future focus and prosocial motivation. Journal of Macromarketing, 43(3), 306–321.

Keywords