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How do incidental emotions impact pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from the dictator game

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  • Ibanez, Lisette
  • Moureau, Nathalie
  • Roussel, Sébastien

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of emotions on monetary donations to pro-environmental causes. We design a three-stage laboratory experiment. In the first stage, participants have the possibility to receive an endowment from an effort game. In the second stage, emotions are induced in the participants. Finally, participants play a dictator game in which the recipient is an environmental Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). We show that incidental emotions do not prompt donations themselves, but that certain emotional states (“Awe”) can increase the amount donated.

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  • Ibanez, Lisette & Moureau, Nathalie & Roussel, Sébastien, 2017. "How do incidental emotions impact pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from the dictator game," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 150-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:66:y:2017:i:c:p:150-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2016.04.003
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    3. Umer, Hamza & Kurosaki, Takashi & Iwasaki, Ichiro, 2022. "Unearned Endowment and Charity Recipient Lead to Higher Donations: A Meta-Analysis of the Dictator Game Lab Experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin & Alhusen, Harm, 2019. "On the determinants of pro-environmental behavior: A literature review and guide for the empirical economist," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 350, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics, revised 2019.
    5. Jürgen Fleiß & Kurt A. Ackermann & Eva Fleiß & Ryan O. Murphy & Alfred Posch, 2020. "Social and environmental preferences: measuring how people make tradeoffs among themselves, others, and collective goods," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 28(3), pages 1049-1067, September.
    6. Adena, Maja & Huck, Steffen, 2022. "Voluntary ‘donations’ versus reward-oriented ‘contributions’: two experiments on framing in funding mechanisms," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(5), pages 1399-1417.
    7. Benistant, Julien & Suchon, Rémi, 2021. "It does (not) get better: Reference income violation and altruism," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Lisette Ibanez & Sébastien Roussel, 2022. "The impact of nature video exposure on pro-environmental behavior: An experimental investigation," Post-Print hal-03847453, HAL.
    9. Song, Yan & Zhang, Lu & Zhang, Ming, 2022. "Research on the impact of public climate policy cognition on low-carbon travel based on SOR theory—Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    10. Jiang, Bing & Pan, Xiaofei, 2023. "An anger premium: An experiment on the role of counterpart emotions in coordination," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Michael Kurtz & Steven Furnagiev & Rebecca Forbes, 2023. "A field study on the role of incidental emotions on charitable giving," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 167-181, January.
    12. He, Shutong & Blasch, Julia & Robinson, Peter John & van Beukering, Pieter, 2024. "Social comparison feedback in decision-making context: Environmental externality levels and psychological traits matter," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    13. Julien Benistant & Remi Suchon, 2020. "It Does (not) Get Better: Expected Income Violation and Altruism," Working Papers ECARES 2020-35, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. Minnich, Aljoscha, 2022. "Do fans’ emotions influence charitable donations? Evidence from monetary and returnable cup donations in German soccer stadiums," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    15. Chengcai Tang & Qianqian Zheng & Pin Ng, 2019. "A Study on the Coordinative Green Development of Tourist Experience and Commercialization of Tourism at Cultural Heritage Sites," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
    16. Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2020. "Positive affect and pro-environmental behavior: A preregistered experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Amy Isham & Judith Geusen & Birgitta Gatersleben, 2022. "The Influence of Framing Plant-Based Products in Terms of Their Health vs. Environmental Benefits: Interactions with Individual Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-17, September.
    18. Haverkamp, Thilo K.G. & Welsch, Heinz & Ziegler, Andreas, 2023. "The relationship between climate protection activities, economic preferences, and life satisfaction: Empirical evidence for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Yulin Liu & Min Zhang & Rujia Liu, 2020. "The Impact of Income Inequality on Carbon Emissions in China: A Household-Level Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Xi Ouyang & Wen’e Qi & Donghui Song & Jianjun Zhou, 2022. "Does Subjective Well-Being Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviors? Evidence from Rural Residents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-19, May.
    21. Welsch, Heinz & Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Green behavior, green self-image, and subjective well-being: Separating affective and cognitive relationships," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Behavioral economics; Dictator game; Emotions; Environment; Donation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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