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Does It Matter if You Are Observed by Others? Evidence from Donations in the Field

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  • Francisco Alpízar
  • Peter Martinsson

Abstract

We investigate whether people's donations in the field are affected by the presence of others. In the analysis, we distinguish between individuals who arrived at a national park alone and those who arrived as members of a group. We also investigated the effect of donations being made in the presence of a third party made in the presence of a third party. We find that donations are significantly more frequent for individuals who are members of a group. When a third party is present, we find that the total donations by individuals who are a part of a group are significantly higher than those of lone travelers, mainly because of the increased probability of donating.

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  • Francisco Alpízar & Peter Martinsson, 2013. "Does It Matter if You Are Observed by Others? Evidence from Donations in the Field," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 115(1), pages 74-83, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:115:y:2013:i:1:p:74-83
    DOI: j.1467-9442.2012.01744.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Feine, Gregor & Groh, Elke D. & von Loessl, Victor & Wetzel, Heike, 2023. "The double dividend of social information in charitable giving: Evidence from a framed field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Elisa Hofmann, 2020. "The power of close relationships and audiences: Interpersonal closeness and payment observability as determinants of voluntary payments," Jena Economics Research Papers 2020-016, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    3. Gary Bolton & Eugen Dimant & Ulrich Schmidt, 2018. "When a Nudge Backfires. Using Observation with Social and Economic Incentives to Promote Pro-Social Behavior," PPE Working Papers 0017, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    4. Bartke, Simon & Friedl, Andreas & Gelhaar, Felix & Reh, Laura, 2017. "Social comparison nudges—Guessing the norm increases charitable giving," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 73-75.
    5. James J. Murphy & Nomin Batmunkh & Benjamin Nilsson & Samantha Ray, 2015. "The Impact of Social Information on the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods: A Replication Study," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Replication in Experimental Economics, volume 18, pages 41-50, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    6. Abhishek Bhati & Ruth K. Hansen, 2020. "A literature review of experimental studies in fundraising," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(1).
    7. Dyussembayeva, Shynar & Viglia, Giampaolo & Nieto-Garcia, Marta & Mattila, Anna S., 2022. "Would you like to add a gratuity? When explicit requests hamper tipping," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 908-917.
    8. Persson, Emil & Tinghög, Gustav, 2024. "Repugnant markets and preferences in public," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Dannenberg, Astrid & Klatt, Charlotte & Weingärtner, Eva, 2024. "The effects of social norms and observability on food choice," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Martin Daniel Siyaranamual, 2015. "Are Results of Social- and Self-Image Concerns in Voluntary Contributions Game Similar?," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 201501, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Feb 2015.
    11. Astrid Dannenberg & Olof Johansson‐Stenman & Heike Wetzel, 2022. "Status for the good guys: An experiment on charitable giving," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 721-740, April.
    12. Dannenberg, Astrid & Weingärtner, Eva, 2023. "The effects of observability and an information nudge on food choice," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Gary E. Bolton & Eugen Dimant & Ulrich Schmidt, 2020. "When a Nudge Backfires: Combining (Im)Plausible Deniability with Social and Economic Incentives to Promote Behavioral Change," CESifo Working Paper Series 8070, CESifo.
    14. Kubo, Takahiro & Shoji, Yasushi & Tsuge, Takahiro & Kuriyama, Koichi, 2018. "Voluntary Contributions to Hiking Trail Maintenance: Evidence From a Field Experiment in a National Park, Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 124-128.
    15. Andersson, Per A. & Erlandsson, Arvid & Västfjäll, Daniel & Tinghög, Gustav, 2020. "Prosocial and moral behavior under decision reveal in a public environment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

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