Abstract
People are often influenced by information about other people’s behavior, that is, social information. Social information is frequently used by practitioners hoping to increase charitable giving, while the precise mechanisms through which social information works are unknown. We conducted a systematic literature review of 35 studies reporting on the effects of social information on charitable giving. We show that several studies report no or even negative effects and that a theoretical understanding of social information effects is lacking. We integrate the empirical findings in the wider fields of social psychology and behavioral economics and propose an integrative theoretical model. The model includes four mediators and three moderators that can explain positive and negative effects of social information. This theoretical framework can assist researchers to obtain a deeper understanding of social information and support practitioners in implementing giving tools in donation campaigns.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 53-73 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), grant #314-99-105. René Bekkers was supported by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences / Van der Gaag Foundation.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Van der Gaag Foundation | |
| Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen | |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | 314-99-105 |
Keywords
- donation amounts
- social influence
- social information
- social norms
- systematic literature review