When loyalty points become donations: The effects of redeemability, point expiration, and descriptive norm information

Although loyalty programs and checkout charity are widely implemented across retail industries, the integration of reward point donations into online checkout charity remains rare, and consumer behavior in this context is not yet fully understood. While a few studies have explored reward point donations and generally reported positive consumer responses, to the best of our knowledge, little research has examined how reward point characteristics and situational factors influence consumers' willingness to donate. To address this gap, the present research examines, across three studies, the effect of point redeemability on consumers’ donation intention through online checkout charity, as well as the moderating roles of point expiration and descriptive norm information. Study 1 shows that consumers exhibit higher donation intention when their reward points are non-redeemable than when they are redeemable. Study 2 demonstrates that the interaction between point redeemability and point expiration significantly influences donation intention, while Study 3 shows that the interaction between point redeemability and descriptive norm information also significantly affects donation intention. The findings provide actionable insights for retailers seeking to design more effective reward point donation programs and enhance social impact through online checkout charity.