University students doing good online: typologies, motivators, and psychological outcomes of online prosocial behavior

BACKGROUND: As digital technologies increasingly shape the social worlds of university students, there remains a limited understanding of how they engage in prosocial behavior online, why they do so, and how these acts affect their well-being. Existing research has largely adapted offline frameworks or focused on performative forms ("like" on social media) of engagement, leaving more nuanced typologies and motivational processes underexplored. METHOD: We conducted in-depth group interviews with 20 university students, recruited through purposive sampling to ensure a diverse range of demographics, to explore the types, motivations and psychological impacts of online prosocial behavior. This was done using a theory-informed thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five typologies of online prosocial behavior emerged: social support, instrumental support, online donations, cyberbullying intervention, and digital allyship. The first four typologies shared labels with well‑known offline forms of helping, but their mechanisms were transformed by features of the online environment, such as scalability, anonymity, and weak‑tie interactions. In contrast, digital allyship constituted a distinct meso-level form of prosociality, in which individuals leveraged their online presence to visibly advocate for and signal solidarity with vulnerable groups. Across all typologies, students highlighted value‑based motives, including empathy, personal moral commitments, and a sense of social responsibility, and they did not attribute their actions to complying with others' requests or seeking public recognition. Psychologically, online helping was associated with both positive and negative psychological outcomes. An emergent process, which we term 'digital prosocial resilience', captured how students described their capacity to continue engaging in online prosocial behavior despite no feedback or backlash, sustained by internal satisfaction derived from acting in line with their values. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends the conceptualization of offline prosocial behavior into digital ecosystems by identifying five distinct behavioral typologies. Additionally, by contextualizing the underlying value-driven motivations and psychological impacts, the findings offer targeted, practical insights into cultivating digital prosocial resilience among university students.