The Common Donor’s Motive: An Online Field Experiment

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations came forward to alleviate the sudden financial and primary needs of the dependent and disadvantaged population via online fundraisers; where the appeal is crucial in encouraging people to engage in prosocial behavior. Studies about social responsibility norm and the Empathy Joy hypothesis provisionally prove their role in enhancing prosocial behavior. We studied the difference in online donating behavior as a function of the motive through a field experiment. We circulated three kinds of messages on social media: 1- appealing to egoistic motive 2- appealing to social responsibility 3- information only appeal (control) to evaluate their comparative effect on donating. The data suggests that underlying motivation had no influence on the choice of donation or the amount donated. The paper provides suggestions for organizers of fundraising campaigns based on past research findings and results of the current study.