Online Fundraising, Self-Image, and the Long-Term Impact of Ask Avoidance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Adena, Maja; Huck, Steffen
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2018.3232
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 722-743
• 关键词: online fundraising; Quasi-experiment; self-image

摘要

We provide the first field evidence pointing at the role of pure self-image, independent of social image, in charitable giving. In an online fundraising campaign for a social youth project run on an opera ticket booking platform, we document how individuals seem to engage in self-deception to preserve their self-image. In addition, we provide evidence on stark adverse long-run effects of the fundraising campaign for ticket sales. Avoiding the ask, opera customers who faced more insistent online fundraising buy fewer tickets in the following season. Our results suggest that fundraising management should not decide in isolation about their campaigns, even if very successful. Rather, broader operational concerns have to be considered.