Pressure-Based Prosocial Motivation Scale

What it measures

Measures the motivation to help others as a perceived duty or obligation, aligned with extrinsic, prevention-focused regulation. Developed by Gebauer et al. (2008) to distinguish pressure-based prosocial motivation (fulfilling a responsibility or conforming to a social norm) from pleasure-based prosocial motivation (anticipating pleasure from helping). Note: the original 4-item scale had one item eliminated (I feel obligated to perform selfless acts towards others) due to low factor loading in the Vietnamese CMO sample.

Response format

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

Scale items

• I feel indebted to stand up for other people.
• I regard it as my duty to act selflessly.
• I feel a strong duty to help other people in every situation where it is possible for me.

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 4-item scale; alpha = .70. One item dropped in Thu et al. (2023) Vietnamese CMO sample, leaving 3 items (CR = .81, AVE = .60). Unlike pleasure-based prosocial motivation, this was not identified as a necessary condition for sustainability marketing commitment via NCA.

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