Study 2

Study 2 explored whether modelling basic need satisfaction as a higher order factor, rather than modelling the separate effects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on general helping, would fit the data better in a general population. In addition, the relationships of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations to both basic need satisfaction and general helping were also studied.

Aspirations have not been studied in relation to prosocial behaviour to date. However, research has provided evidence that basic need satisfaction positively predicts prosocial behaviour (Gagné, 2003; Haivas et al., 2013) and that aspirations positively predict basic need satisfaction (Niemiec et al., 2009). Research has also shown that intrinsic aspirations tend to be positively associated with positive outcomes whereas

extrinsic aspirations are either unrelated or negatively related. It would be beneficial to explore whether aspirations are able to explain any variance in prosocial behaviour, and whether basic need satisfaction mediates this relationship in order to further our

understanding of the relationship between aspirations and behavioural, rather than psychological, outcomes.

According to theory and previous research, we expected intrinsic aspirations to positively predict general helping and basic need satisfaction, whereas extrinsic

aspirations could negatively predict or be unrelated to both variables. Based on the work of Niemiec et al. (2009), we predicted that basic need satisfaction would mediate the relationship between aspirations and general helping.

4.4.1 Method

Participants and Procedure

Participants (total N = 220, 132 females) were members of the public, recruited via Facebook and email ‘snowballing’. They were given the option to enter a prize draw for £25. The difference in prize draw value from Study 1 was due to changes in the university’s ethical procedure.

All participants completed the questionnaire online, having first read an explanatory statement about the study which assured participants that their responses were voluntary and confidential. Contact details obtained in order to award the prize draws were kept separately from questionnaire data to ensure anonymity. Demographic information about participants is shown in Table 4.1.

Measures

Autonomy, relatedness, and competence satisfaction (ARC-S) scale. The measure described in Study 1 (L. G. Morgan et al., 2013) was used to assess autonomy satisfaction (α = .81), competence satisfaction (α = .70), and relatedness satisfaction (α = .87).

Basic need satisfaction in general (BNS-G) scale. The BNS-G scale (Gagné, 2003) as described in Study 1 was again included and used in supplementary analyses (see footnote 2).

The aspirations index (T. Kasser & Ryan, 1996). This scale was developed to assess the importance of, likelihood of attaining, and current level of attainment of extrinsic and intrinsic life goals or aspirations. For the purposes of this study

participants were only asked to rate how important each aspiration was to them on a scale of 1 (Not at all important) to 7 (Very important). Extrinsic aspirations were measured with five fame items and five wealth items. Intrinsic aspirations were measured with five community items and five affiliation items. Examples of items are ‘To be admired by many people’ (fame, α = .83), ‘To have many expensive

possessions’ (wealth, α = .84), ‘To have good friends that I can count on’ (affiliation, α = .80) and ‘To help people in need’ (community, α = .88).

Engagement in prosocial behaviours in general. The measure described in Study 1 (Rushton et al., 1981) assessed general helping, α = .86.

Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale: Short form B12. The 12-item MC-SDS (Reynolds, 1982) described in Study 1 was used to measure social

4.4.2 Results

Preliminary Analyses

Table 4.3 shows descriptive statistics of the measured variables. Social desirability was positively related to general helping, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. There was a significant effect of employment status on relatedness, F (6, 228) = 2.47, p < .05, but no effect on autonomy, competence, or general helping. Independent t-testing showed that women and men differed in relatedness need satisfaction, t (233) = 2.19, p < .05, with women reporting higher levels of relatedness need satisfaction (M = 6.12, SD = .86) than men (M = 5.85, SD = .99). There were no gender differences for general helping, autonomy or competence. Relationship status and ethnicity were unrelated to general helping, autonomy, competence, or relatedness. Therefore social desirability, gender and employment status were included in

subsequent analyses. In this sample, autonomy, competence, and relatedness were significantly positively correlated both with general helping and with each other. Competence and relatedness were significantly positively correlated with intrinsic aspirations whereas autonomy was significantly negatively correlated with extrinsic aspirations. Intrinsic aspirations were significantly positively correlated with general helping whereas there was no significant relationship between extrinsic aspirations and general helping.

Fit of the measurement model, comprising the main variables of interest

(intrinsic aspirations, extrinsic aspirations, autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and general helping) and the control variables (gender, employment status, and social desirability), was inspected. Gender and employment status were included as observed variables. The main variables were included as latent constructs, as was social

items. The intrinsic aspirations factor was indicated by the observed variables, community and affiliation. The extrinsic aspirations factor was indicated by the

observed variables, wealth and fame. General helping and social desirability were each indicated by three item parcels. Data screening showed data non-normality at the univariate and multivariate level. Therefore maximum likelihood parameter estimates with standard errors and a mean-adjusted chi-square statistic (SBS- χ²) were estimated.

Estimation of the measurement model showed good model fit, SBS- χ² (196) = 254.10, p < .001, CFI = .97, TLI = .96, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .04. All factor loadings were significant (p < .001) and ranged in magnitude from .30 to .95 (mean λ = .72). Examination of correlations between the latent variables showed high average inter- correlations between the three basic need constructs (M ϕ = .77) thus a higher-order BNS factor was fitted to the model, retaining separate modelling of autonomy, competence, and relatedness at the subordinate level. Extrinsic aspirations were not significantly correlated with the higher-order BNS factor or general helping. In addition, affiliation had a low factor loading onto intrinsic aspirations (.30). The measurement model was therefore further re-specified, excluding extrinsic aspirations altogether and modelling community and affiliation separately, each indicated by their five relevant items. Error terms within each of the latent aspiration variables were allowed to covary. This measurement model showed good model fit, SBS- χ² (351) = 470.16, p < .001, CFI = .95, TLI = .95, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .06. Although the overall model fit was slightly worse, overall the factor loadings were slightly improved, now ranging from .47 to .92 (mean λ = .74). Furthermore, second order factor loadings were high and significant (mean λ = .87) and the average variance extracted from the first-order need constructs was high (ρᵥ = .76).

Table 4.3

Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alphas and bivariate correlations among study variables, Study 2

M SD α 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Control Variables 1. Social desirability 7.19 2.55 .66 - 2. Gender 1.45 0.50 - -.02 - 3. Employment status 2.75 2.29 - .14 -.09 Main variables - 4. Intrinsic aspirations 6.06 0.68 .83 .33*** -.05 .17** -. 5. Extrinsic aspirations 3.22 1.07 .85 .27** .24** -.24** -.23* - 6. Autonomy 5.91 1.06 .81 .49*** -.02 .20*** .14 -.22* - 7. Competence 5.15 1.15 .70 .51*** -.11 .14* .25*** -.06 .77*** - 8. Relatedness 6.00 0.93 .87 .47*** -.15 .22*** .35*** -.15 .72*** .81*** - 9. General Helping 3.14 0.58 .86 .28*** .10 .10 .42*** -.15 .38*** .31*** .24*** -

The measurement model results provided justification for proceeding to test the hypothesised structural relations with a higher-order BNS factor, community and affiliation modelled as separate variables, and extrinsic aspirations excluded from further analyses.2

Effects of Basic Need Satisfaction and Aspirations on General Helping

A structural model testing paths from community, affiliation, and basic need satisfaction to general helping, and paths from community and affiliation to basic need satisfaction was fitted to the data (Figure 4.2). The model fit was good, SBS- χ² (260) = 348.36, p < .001, CFI = .96, TLI = .95, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .06. Social desirability and employment status were not significant predictors of general helping. Therefore, only gender was controlled for in the structural model. Basic need satisfaction positively predicted general helping (β = .25, SE = .07, p < .001). Examination of the modification indices indicated no advantage to modelling direct paths from autonomy, competence, or relatedness to general helping (all MIs < 8.5). Community positively predicted basic need satisfaction (β = .33, SE = .08, p < .001) and general helping (β = .33, SE = .06, p < .001). Affiliation was unrelated to general helping or basic need satisfaction. There was a significant indirect effect of community via basic need satisfaction (β = .08, SE = .03, p < .01), providing evidence that basic need satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between community and general helping. Overall 25% of the variance in general helping was explained, of which 6% was explained by basic need satisfaction.

2 _{As in Study 1, the analyses were also carried out using Gagne’s (2003) BNS-G items, with autonomy,}

competence, and relatedness indicated by all 21-items, by 16-items and an additional latent variable accounting for method effect, and by the 11-items that were adapted to form the ARC-S scale. Again model fit was poor, supporting the use of the ARC-S scale to measure basic need satisfaction. See Appendix R for details.

Basic Need Satisfaction .92 .33*** .87 .25*** .83 _HelpingGeneral .81 .87 .78 GH_P1 GH_P2 GH_P3 .64 .80 .72 .64 .74 .33*** -.06 .06 Affiliation .46 .80 .72 .64 .74 Af_1 Af_2 Af_3 Af_4 Af_5

Community

Co_1 Co_2 Co_3 Co_4 Co_5 Competence Satisfaction .52 .70 .81 .47 C1 C2 C3 C4 Relatedness Satisfaction .79 .76 .75 .87 R1 R2 R3 R4 Autonomy Satisfaction .71 .71 .87 A1 A2 A3

Figure 4.2. Standardised parameter estimates for the structural model of relationships between aspirations, basic need satisfaction, and helping.

Further Analyses

In order to demonstrate the potential for suppressor effects and model

misspecification when autonomy, competence, and relatedness are modelled separately, further analyses were carried out. The structural model described above was tested without the higher-order BNS factor. The model fit was adequate, SBS- χ² (214) = 316.89, p < .001, CFI = .95, TLI = .93, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .05. Competence was a non-significant predictor, autonomy was a strong positive predictor (β = .42, p < .01), and relatedness was a significant negative predictor (β = -.38, p < .05). The change in valence between the correlation of relatedness to general helping and the parameter estimate from relatedness to general helping indicates a suppressor effect (Maassen & Bakker, 2001).

4.4.3 Discussion

The results from Study 2 provide further support that, as a predictor of prosocial behaviour, basic need satisfaction is best modelled as a higher-order factor. The benefit of this approach was corroborated by the further analyses, which

demonstrated a suppressor effect when autonomy, competence, and relatedness were modelled separately. These findings conflict with those of Haivas et al. (2013) who found that autonomy and competence positively predicted prosocial behaviour, whereas relatedness had no effect. This difference could be due to genuine variation in the samples. However, the results also raise the possibility that different results are obtained using OLS regression rather than latent SEM. This could be due to the fact that latent SEM accounts for measurement error and thus produces unbiased parameter estimates (Kline, 2005).

Study 2 demonstrated that basic need satisfaction positively predicted prosocial behaviour in a general population. This result replicates the findings from Study 1, which used a student sample, providing support for the generalizability of the results. Community aspirations significantly positively predicted prosocial behaviour, this relationship being partially mediated by basic need satisfaction. This builds on the work of Niemiec et al. (2009), providing evidence that basic need satisfaction consistently mediates the relationship between certain intrinsic aspirations and

behavioural outcomes. However, extrinsic aspirations and affiliation aspirations were unrelated to either basic need satisfaction or prosocial behaviour.