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  • February 2018
  • Article
  • Journal of Public Economics

The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask

By: Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie
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Abstract

Individuals frequently exploit "flexibility" built into decision environments to give less. They use uncertainty to justify options benefiting themselves over others, they avoid information that may encourage them to give, and they avoid the ask itself. In this paper, we examine whether a reluctance to give may arise even when such explicit flexibility is absent. We investigate whether merely alerting individuals to an upcoming prosocial ask—that is neither avoided nor occurs in an environment with flexibility—results in reduced prosocial behavior. That is, we investigate whether individuals use time to quickly find ways to decline prosocial asks and thus whether surprising individuals with prosocial asks increases compliance. Results from a field study and complementary online studies provide a clear answer: yes.

Keywords

Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Self-serving Biases; Excuses; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior

Citation

Exley, Christine L., and Ragan Petrie. "The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask." Journal of Public Economics 158 (February 2018): 152–167.
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About The Author

Christine L. Exley

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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More from the Authors

    • 2022
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    When Do Individuals Give Up Agency? The Role of Decision Avoidance

    By: Holly Dykstra, Christine L. Exley and Muriel Niederle
    • 2022
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    The Gender Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluations

    By: Billur Aksoy, Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler
    • 2022
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    The Gender Gap in Confidence: Expected But Not Accounted For

    By: Christine L. Exley and Kirby Nielsen
More from the Authors
  • When Do Individuals Give Up Agency? The Role of Decision Avoidance By: Holly Dykstra, Christine L. Exley and Muriel Niederle
  • The Gender Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluations By: Billur Aksoy, Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler
  • The Gender Gap in Confidence: Expected But Not Accounted For By: Christine L. Exley and Kirby Nielsen
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