IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/kyklos/v78y2025i1p271-298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do White Saviour perceptions reduce charitable giving? Evidence from five online studies

Author

Listed:
  • Swee‐Hoon Chuah
  • Matthew Clarke
  • Simon Feeny
  • Robert Hoffmann
  • Ananta Neelim

Abstract

International aid charities face a dilemma by virtue of the White Saviour: Appeal photos of Caucasian helpers in Global South settings can build a bridge to donors or cause donor resentment with changing social norms. We examine four resulting empirical questions using a series of online studies: What is the White Saviour? How do White Saviour perceptions arise from charitable appeals? And what is their effect on both donation intentions and behaviour? We empirically identify two factors that constitute White Saviour perceptions: entitlement and ineffectiveness, along with the photo characteristics that raise them. Findings suggest that images with high White Saviour perceptions do not raise donations but can actually lower the propensity to donate. There is therefore no case for international NGOs to use such imagery, particularly given that it risks offending the people and communities they serve.

Suggested Citation

  • Swee‐Hoon Chuah & Matthew Clarke & Simon Feeny & Robert Hoffmann & Ananta Neelim, 2025. "Do White Saviour perceptions reduce charitable giving? Evidence from five online studies," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 78(1), pages 271-298, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:78:y:2025:i:1:p:271-298
    DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12417
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/kykl.12417?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:78:y:2025:i:1:p:271-298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0023-5962 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.