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Reluctant donors and their reactions to social information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

David Klinowski
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Abstract

This paper examines how image concerns affect the way giving behavior responds to social information. Subjects in the laboratory decide first whether they wish to donate part of their earnings to a charity, and then, conditional on opting in, decide how much to donate. They receive information on the size of a previous donation either before or after opting in, which allows one to examine the effect of the social information on the extensive and intensive margins of giving separately, and thus distinguish self-image concerns from potential alternative mechanisms. Information on a large previous donation caused subjects to opt out, but when shown only after opt-in, the same information caused subjects to increase donation amounts and did not lead to $0 donations. As further evidence of the influence of image concerns, the reaction to the social information was found to be correlated with a preference for quietly exiting a dictator game, and with scoring high on neuroticism. The results have implications for the inferences we draw about donor motives and welfare based on changes in giving in response to social information.

Keywords

Charitable givingReluctant altruismSocial informationMoral wiggle room

JEL classification

D64: Altruism • Philanthropy • Intergenerational Transfers H41: Public Goods C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior L31: Nonprofit Institutions • NGOs • Social Entrepreneurship D80: General D91: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 515 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-020-09670-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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