Do beliefs about peers matter for donation matching? Experiments in the field and laboratory

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gee, Laura K.; Schreck, Michael J.
• 署名单位: Tufts University; Analysis Group Inc.
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2017.11.002
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 282-297
• 关键词: Charitable giving; field experiment; beliefs; public goods

摘要

A popular fundraising tool is donation matching, where every dollar is matched by a third party. But field experiments find that matching doesn't always increase donations. Individuals may believe that peers will exhaust the matching funds, so their donation isn't pivotal. We develop a theory of how beliefs about peers' donations affect one's likelihood of donation. We test our theory using novel threshold match treatments in field and laboratory experiments. One threshold match treatment more than doubles the donation rate relative to no match. To understand the mechanism behind this increase, we use a lab study to show that beliefs about peers' donations matter. Our theoretical, lab, and field results combined suggest people are more likely to donate when they believe they are more pivotal to securing matching money. Beliefs about others matter, and they should be taken into account when trying to increase donations. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.