The Role of State Empathy and Collective Agency in the Relationship Between Group Coordination and Prosocial Behaviour in Dutch Adults

Abstract

This study investigates whether coordination during a group task can elicit state empathy and a sense of collective agency, and whether these processes sequentially mediate the relationship between coordination and prosocial behavior. Grounded in theories of empathy, collective action, and shared motivation, this study employed an experimental design in which Dutch adults (N = 64) were randomly assigned to either a high- or low-coordination condition during a LEGO-building task. Following this task, participants completed a survey and engaged in an online prosocial activity (the FreeRice game), where time spent and grains donated served as behavioral indicators of prosociality. A significant direct effect of coordination on collective agency was found, but no direct effect of coordination on prosocial behavior emerged. Mediation analyses using PROCESS model 4 revealed two significant indirect effects of coordination: one through state empathy (on collective agency), and one through collective agency (on prosocial behavior). Although these mediators were tested in separate models, the results conceptually support a sequential pathway in which coordination fosters state empathy, enhancing collective agency, ultimately promoting prosocial behavior through social-emotional and motivational group processes. The results offer new insight into the psychological mechanisms linking group task coordination to prosocial behaviour, with implications for fostering cooperation and social responsibility in group-based contexts.