The counterintuitive effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving

George E. Newman and Y. Jeremy Shen

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2012, vol. 33, issue 5, 973-983

Abstract: Six experiments examined the effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving. Results indicate that although people expect that the offer of thank-you gifts will increase donations, such offers actually reduce charitable donations. This effect was obtained across a wide variety of charities and gifts types, regardless of whether the donations were hypothetical or real, the gift was desirable or undesirable, the charity was familiar or unfamiliar, or the gift was more or less valuable. Moreover, such patterns cannot solely be explained in terms of inferences about the charity’s quality (e.g., either their efficacy or current wealth), the undesirability of the gift itself, or simple anchoring effects. These results are discussed within a broader theoretical framework concerning the effects of extrinsic incentives on altruistic behavior.

Keywords: Donations; Gifts; Incentives; Charitable giving; Altruism; Crowding out (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:33:y:2012:i:5:p:973-983

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2012.05.002

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