City Research Online

Abstract

In the last decade, the digital revolution has impacted all aspects of our lives, including ourway of giving to charities. Thanks to the advances in digital technologies, new donation platforms, such as round-up services, text giving, social media initiatives and crowdfunding, have been introduced in the fundraising scenario. These platforms allow donors to quickly and easily give small amounts to a wide range of charities. As a result, individuals are increasingly spreading their donations across different charities. This project investigates the consequences of this behaviour, i.e. breadth of giving, on the perceived morality of the act and future prosocial behaviour. Across six studies (N =1436), the researchers predict and show that breadth of giving (vs. giving the same amount to a single charity) is perceived as a more moral behaviour and that engaging in breadth of giving has negative consequences on future donations – that is, it decreases the amount donated in subsequent donations. Further, through a meta-analysis, which includes all the studies conducted for this research (N = 2657), the boundary conditions of the effect are explored. The findings show that the type of charitable cause moderates the effect. When donors distribute their giving across charities with different causes (vs. with the same cause), the negative effect of the breadth of giving on future donations disappears. Overall, this work contributes to the understanding of the consequences of a novel, yet prominent, prosocial behaviour.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Bayes Business School Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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