
Business Economics and Public Policy Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
12-2014
Publication Source
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume
108
Start Page
198
Last Page
211
DOI
10.1016/j.jebo.2014.09.011
Abstract
We conducted a field experiment with a charitable group to investigate whether giving the donor an option to write a personalized holiday card to the recipient influences giving behavior. Over 1500 households were approached in a door-to-door campaign and randomized to either a treatment group, in which donors were presented with the option to write their own card for the recipient, or a control group, in which donors were not given the option to write their own card for the recipient. We predict that treatment should increase contributions through making the gift more meaningful, but may also decrease contributions by increasing the transaction and social costs of donating. We find evidence in favor of the negative effects of costs from treatment, and no evidence of increased giving. We also observe that our treatment crowds out small donors (donors giving $5 or less).
Copyright/Permission Statement
© 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords
field experiment, altruism, meaning, social pressure
Recommended Citation
Chuan, A., & SavikhinSamek, A. (2014). 'Feel the Warmth' Glow: A Field Experiment on Manipulating the Act of Giving. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 108 198-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.09.011
Embargo Date
9-30-2017
Included in
Business Commons, Economics Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.