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Moderate Versus Radical NGOs†

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  • Romain Espinosa
  • Nicolas Treich

Abstract

NGOs often vary in terms of how radical they are. In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of NGO discourses in bringing about social change. We focus on animal advocacy: welfarist NGOs primarily seek to improve the conditions in which animals are raised and reduce meat consumption, whereas abolitionist NGOs categorically reject animal use and call for a vegan society. We design an experiment to study the respective impact of welfarist and abolitionist discourses on participants' beliefs regarding pro‐meat justifications and their actions, namely their propensity to engage in the short run in animal welfare (charity donation, petition against intensive farming) and plant‐based diets (subscription to a newsletter promoting plant‐based diets, petition supporting vegetarian meals). We first show that both welfarist and abolitionist discourses significantly undermine participants' pro‐meat justifications. Second, the welfarist discourse does not significantly affect participants' actions, although we detect a potential backlash effect of the abolitionist discourse. We show that the NGOs' positive standard effect on actions through the change in beliefs is outweighed by a negative behavioral response to the discourses (reactance effect). Last, greater public‐good contributions are associated with greater engagement in animal welfare in the presence of an NGO discourse.

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  • Romain Espinosa & Nicolas Treich, 2021. "Moderate Versus Radical NGOs†," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(4), pages 1478-1501, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:103:y:2021:i:4:p:1478-1501
    DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12156
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    1. Romain Espinosa & Sylvie Borau & Nicolas Treich, 2024. "Impact of NGOs’ undercover videos on citizens’ emotions and pro-social behaviors," Post-Print hal-04696402, HAL.
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    4. Thibaut Arpinon & Romain Espinosa, 2023. "A Practical Guide to Registered Reports for Economists," Post-Print halshs-03897719, HAL.
    5. Niszczota, Paweł & Błaszczyński, Jakub, 2024. "Hard to digest investments: People oppose investment in both conventional and cultured meat producers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).

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