The modern-day corporate sector implements various forms of socially responsible programs, perhaps with different motives. Nevertheless, harnessing potential support towards such initiatives from stakeholders is vital. In this regard, researchers previously uncovered that the processes of psychological reaction to the request of time and money donations are different, yet the influence of psychological distance on time and money donation behavior has not been explicitly explored. Hence, this research investigates how temporal distance and value accessibility lead to different types and sizes of donation. The findings reveal that when individuals jointly evaluate donation options, temporal distance evokes dissimilar mental processes, subsequently leading them to provide time donations (near future) or money donations (distance future). With respect to the size of the donation, temporal distance has an impact on donating money, but not on time. Notably, the self-construal level interacted with temporal distance more so than that of personality traits to bring about strong donation behavior. This interaction is more pronounced and visible in relation to money donation than to time donation. In addition, implications of this research are also considered and discussed.

The involvement of firms in charitable initiatives has been put into practice utilizing direct corporate donations, corporate volunteering, and cause-related marketing. Despite the popularity of such marketing tools, consumers have become skeptical of such practices. The corporate sector and charity organizations struggle to channel more resources toward charity causes. In light of this, the study investigates how value-driven individual differences – self-construal – moderate the relationship between social distance and donation behavior. The results of two experiments reveal that, when individuals evaluate donation options jointly, social distance evokes a mental process through which individuals tend to go for time donations, if the event is organized by someone similar, whereas individuals tend to choose the money donation option if the event is organized by someone dissimilar. The interaction effect is well pronounced, concerning money donations compared to time donations. Moreover, the lower social distance attenuates skepticism towards Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.