Social comparison nudges: Guessing the norm increases charitable giving

Arbeitspapier

Social comparison nudges that employ descriptive norms were found to increase charitable giving. This paper finds that individuals who receive a descriptive norm donate significantly more when they have to guess the descriptive norm beforehand. We argue that guessing draws attention to the norm and therefore increases its effectiveness. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of nudges that use descriptive norms depends on how the a priori beliefs about the descriptive norm are updated.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Kiel Working Paper ; No. 2058

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Field Experiments ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
• Subject: social comparison nudge ; attention ; field experiment ; charitable giving ; social norms

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bartke, Simon ; Friedl, Andreas ; Gelhaar, Felix ; Reh, Laura
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
• (where): Kiel
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/148009
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET