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Tipping for charity: a field experiment in charitable giving on free walking tours

Author

Listed:
  • Britta Butz

    (RWTH Aachen University)

  • Christine Harbring

    (RWTH Aachen University)

Abstract

The following field experiment analyzes the effect of payments in a setting of shared social responsibility where charitable giving is incorporated into a pay-what-you-want scheme as a share of the payment. The field experiment involved free walking tours. Within a timeframe of 10 weeks, tours operated as usual, while every second week a Donation Week was implemented. During Donation Week, 5% of the tips were donated to a charitable organization by the tour firm. Results reveal that tips are significantly higher in the Donation Week compared to the Baseline and that the rise in tips roughly outweighs the cost of the donation payment. Thus, while tour guides’ profits do not differ between treatments donations to charity may be generated additionally in Donation Week.

Suggested Citation

  • Britta Butz & Christine Harbring, 2022. "Tipping for charity: a field experiment in charitable giving on free walking tours," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(5), pages 781-808, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:92:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-021-01062-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-021-01062-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Egbert, Henrik & Greiff, Matthias, 2023. "Pay-What-You-Want für öffentliche Güter: Eine Fallstudie zu vhs.wissen live [Pay-What-You-Want and Public Goods: a case study of vhs.wissen live]," MPRA Paper 118432, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pay-what-you-want; Charitable giving; Shared social responsibility; Corporate social responsibility; Field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D49 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Other
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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