How belief in a just world leads to prosocial behaviours: The role of communal orientation

Belief in a just world (BJW) is widely held by people who tend to believe that the world is fair and that individuals get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This study investigated the mediating role of communal orientation in the relationship between prosocial behaviour and personal BJW (PBJW) as well as general BJW (GBJW). In Study 1, an online questionnaire was used to measure participants' explicit BJW, prosocial behaviour and communal orientation. The results showed a mediating effect of communal orientation on the relationship between explicit BJW and prosocial behaviour. Considering that BJW is often conceptualised as an implicit construct, in Study 2, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure implicit PBJW and GBJW to examine their relationship with actual donation behaviour. The results showed that implicit PBJW and GBJW are indirectly but positively related to prosocial behaviour via communal orientation; thus, to some extent, PBJW and GBJW should have positive social significance.