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A restaurant field experiment in charitable contributions

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  • Charness, Gary
  • Cheung, Tsz

Abstract

The issue of how to best elicit charitable contributions has long been an important one for charitable organizations. Some recent studies have examined different schemes for eliciting contributions for public radio and maximizing revenue for commercial purposes. Our study is a pure field experiment that was conducted in a restaurant. We varied the level of suggested contribution on the jar at the cashier to see if this had an effect on the revenue received; in one condition, did not make any suggestion. We do find differences in revenue depending on the suggested amount, showing that there is scope for strategy in choosing how to appeal to the potential donors. The amount requested does affect revenue, but it is not a monotonic relationship. We also find that not naming a suggested amount fares poorly in terms of generating revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Charness, Gary & Cheung, Tsz, 2013. "A restaurant field experiment in charitable contributions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 48-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:119:y:2013:i:1:p:48-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.01.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jen Shang & Rachel Croson, 2009. "A Field Experiment in Charitable Contribution: The Impact of Social Information on the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(540), pages 1422-1439, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Deb, Rahul & Gazzale, Robert S. & Kotchen, Matthew J., 2014. "Testing motives for charitable giving: A revealed-preference methodology with experimental evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 181-192.
    2. Schlüter, Achim & Vollan, Björn, 2015. "Flowers and an honour box: Evidence on framing effects," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 186-199.
    3. Park, Sangkon & Nam, Sohyun & Lee, Jungmin, 2017. "Charitable giving, suggestion, and learning from others: Pay-What-You-Want experiments at a coffee shop," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 16-22.
    4. Christoph Feldhaus & Tassilo Sobotta & Peter Werner, 2019. "Norm Uncertainty and Voluntary Payments in the Field," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(4), pages 1855-1866, April.
    5. Rau, Holger & Samek, Anya & Zhurakhovska, Lilia, 2022. "Do I care if you are paid? Field experiments and expert forecasts in charitable giving," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 42-51.
    6. Giaccherini, Matilde & Gilli, Marianna & Mancinelli, Susanna & Zoli, Mariangela, 2021. "Nudging food waste decisions at restaurants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Indranil Goswami & Oleg Urminsky, 2016. "When should the ask be a nudge? The Effect of Default Amounts on Charitable Donations," Natural Field Experiments 00659, The Field Experiments Website.
    8. Peter Katuščák & Tomáš Miklánek, 2023. "What drives conditional cooperation in public good games?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(2), pages 435-467, April.

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