Why do we help? Who do we help? A study on helping behaviour
(2016) EXTM10 20161Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This master’s thesis presents relevant research articles within helping behaviour answering why we help, when we help and whom we prefer to help. In addition, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed on an online survey answering whom we prefer to help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. All of these findings are then incorporated into a mobile-application niched on helping, called Ripple, which is being developed by the author of this thesis. Lastly, the thesis discusses how incorporating a gamification system can strengthen the Ripple users’ willingness to engage with the mobile-application. Results of the survey suggest that people are more willing to help family,... (More)
- This master’s thesis presents relevant research articles within helping behaviour answering why we help, when we help and whom we prefer to help. In addition, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed on an online survey answering whom we prefer to help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. All of these findings are then incorporated into a mobile-application niched on helping, called Ripple, which is being developed by the author of this thesis. Lastly, the thesis discusses how incorporating a gamification system can strengthen the Ripple users’ willingness to engage with the mobile-application. Results of the survey suggest that people are more willing to help family, friends, mutual friends and strangers that can show that they are helpful individuals. These results will form the basis for how Ripple will work as an application. In addition, it is shown that people aged 15-25 are more likely to need help, whereas students and females are more interested than employees and males in an application like Ripple, which is why students, females and people aged 15-25 will constitute the primary target group for Ripple. People who are interested in the Ripple application report they would primarily use it to borrow items, receive advice and ask for help performing smaller tasks. These results will form the basis for how Ripple will market itself to potential users. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Why do we help? Who do we help? A study on helping behaviour
David Sundström
June 10th, 2016
Findings from research articles and an online survey on helping behaviour are presented and incorporated into a mobile-application niched on allowing people to help and receive help from people within their network.
This master’s thesis presents relevant research articles within helping behaviour answering why we help and whom we prefer to help. In addition, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed on an online survey answering whom we prefer to help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. All of these findings are then incorporated into a mobile-application niched on... (More) - Why do we help? Who do we help? A study on helping behaviour
David Sundström
June 10th, 2016
Findings from research articles and an online survey on helping behaviour are presented and incorporated into a mobile-application niched on allowing people to help and receive help from people within their network.
This master’s thesis presents relevant research articles within helping behaviour answering why we help and whom we prefer to help. In addition, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed on an online survey answering whom we prefer to help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. All of these findings are then incorporated into a mobile-application niched on helping, called Ripple, which is being developed by the author of this thesis. Lastly, the thesis discusses how incorporating a gamification system (which is when game elements, e.g. points, are introduced into a non-game context) can strengthen the Ripple users’ willingness to engage with the mobile-application.
Ripple is a gamified application focused on allowing people to help and receive help from their network of friends, friends-of-friends and peers, operating in connection with the social network Facebook. Whenever users need help with something, they can simply post a help-request to a group of recipients. The potential helpers can then help the requester by either helping directly, or by vouching (which means that they spread the request to their own network of friends).
Findings from research articles and the results of the online survey suggest that people are more willing to help family, friends, mutual friends and strangers that can show that they are helpful individuals. These results will form the basis for how Ripple will work as an application. For instance, the newsfeed containing help requests from other users will primarily display posts from users fulfilling the previously mentioned relationship types.
People stating an interest in an application like Ripple, report that they would primarily use it to borrow items, receive advice and ask for help performing smaller tasks. When marketing Ripple, it is important to communicate user cases to make sure potential users understand what type of problems the application can solve for them, and when constructing these user cases, the mentioned results will be of great importance.
It is shown that people aged 15-25 are more likely to need help, whereas students and females are more interested than employees and males in an application like Ripple, which is why students, females and people aged 15-25 will constitute the primary target group for Ripple when marketing the application.
Several motivations to why people help are uncovered, divided into evolutionary, egoistic and altruistic motivations. These motivations are leveraged and strengthened within Ripple using gamification. Point systems, badges and leaderboards are all introduced in order to make the application more fun, engaging and most importantly to make people more willing to help their peers.
Overall, this thesis contribute with findings on helping behaviour, especially regarding who we help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. In addition, the thesis lays ground to another important contribution in the form of Ripple, which will be an important tool proving how research findings on helping behaviour can be leveraged and used in mobile-applications. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8882257
- author
- Sundström, David LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EXTM10 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Helping behaviour Gamification Mobile application
- language
- English
- id
- 8882257
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-22 15:37:23
- date last changed
- 2016-06-22 15:37:23
@misc{8882257,
abstract = {{This master’s thesis presents relevant research articles within helping behaviour answering why we help, when we help and whom we prefer to help. In addition, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed on an online survey answering whom we prefer to help, who is more likely to help, what people need help with and who is more likely to need help. All of these findings are then incorporated into a mobile-application niched on helping, called Ripple, which is being developed by the author of this thesis. Lastly, the thesis discusses how incorporating a gamification system can strengthen the Ripple users’ willingness to engage with the mobile-application. Results of the survey suggest that people are more willing to help family, friends, mutual friends and strangers that can show that they are helpful individuals. These results will form the basis for how Ripple will work as an application. In addition, it is shown that people aged 15-25 are more likely to need help, whereas students and females are more interested than employees and males in an application like Ripple, which is why students, females and people aged 15-25 will constitute the primary target group for Ripple. People who are interested in the Ripple application report they would primarily use it to borrow items, receive advice and ask for help performing smaller tasks. These results will form the basis for how Ripple will market itself to potential users.}},
author = {{Sundström, David}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Why do we help? Who do we help? A study on helping behaviour}},
year = {{2016}},
}