When does it matter how you ask? Cross-subject heterogeneity in framing effects in a charitable donation experiment

David Fielding, Stephen Knowles () and Kirsten Robertson ()
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Kirsten Robertson: Department of Marketing, University of Otago, New Zealand

No 1701, Working Papers from University of Otago, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper we present results from an experiment that draws on insights from economics on different possible incentives for generosity and insights from social psychology on different possible personality types. Firstly, we test whether the effect of an appeal to a pure altruism motive versus an appeal to a self-interest motive varies across subjects. We find that there is substantial variation, and this variation is strongly correlated with a subject’s level of materialism. Secondly, we test whether spoken appeals and written appeals have different effects. We find no evidence for such a difference. These results have important implications for the fundraising strategies of charities and for experimental design.

Keywords: Altruism; Self-Interest; Dictator Game; Materialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D64 M31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2017-01, Revised 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/otago633963.pdf First version, 2017 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:otg:wpaper:1701

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