The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania, United States
Corporate volunteering programs hold substantial potential to address various forms of global economic inequality, from hunger to inadequate healthcare, which stem from social and geographical disparities in the distribution of resources. Despite a steady increase in resources allocated to volunteering programs, the social and geographical distance between organizations with the greatest capacity to assist and potential beneficiaries with the most pressing needs reduces the likelihood that these programs will address the needs of those who need help the most. We term this phenomenon “the myopia of helping”. Drawing on psychological distance theory, we propose that even when the scale of corporate volunteering (the resources allocated for corporate volunteering) increases, the myopia of helping still constrains the scope of corporate volunteering (the social and geographical distance between volunteers and beneficiaries). However, as the scale of corporate volunteering expands, a more vivid organizational vision can increase the scope of volunteering. Vision vividness reduces the gap between corporate volunteers and psychologically distant beneficiaries by helping volunteers better envision these beneficiaries, their needs, and the positive impact of volunteering. We tested our predictions with a multisource longitudinal archival study of all acute-care hospitals in the Northeastern United States and found support for our theory.
