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When Charities Compete: A Laboratory Experiment with Simultaneous Public Goods

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  • Justin Krieg
  • Anya Samek

Abstract

What happens when charities compete? We begin to answer this question through a laboratory experiment in which subjects play two public goods games simultaneously. We systematically vary the incentives for contributing in one of the games - investigating the effects of recognition, a bonus conditional on contributing, and non-monetary sanctions - and measure the effect on contributions in both games. Monetary incentives in the form of conditional bonuses increase contributions, even when two games are played simultaneously. However, non-monetary incentives such as recognition and sanctions are less effective than in related literature on games played in isolation. Moreover, we find mixed evidence of the spillover effect of treatment on the un-treated games - bonuses increase contributions initially, recognition decreases contributions, and sanctions have no effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin Krieg & Anya Samek, 2014. "When Charities Compete: A Laboratory Experiment with Simultaneous Public Goods," Artefactual Field Experiments 00442, The Field Experiments Website.
    • Handle: RePEc:feb:artefa:00442
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    2. Adena, Maja & Hager, Anselm, 2020. "Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nation-wide field experiment on Facebook," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Zhiyuan Gao & Zhiling Guo & Qian Tang, 2022. "How do monetary incentives influence giving? An empirical investigation of matching subsidies on kiva," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 303-324, June.
    4. Hideki Yamashita & Shinsuke Kyoi & Koichiro Mori, 2021. "Does Information about Personal Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Improve Individual Environmental Friendliness? A Survey Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-29, February.
    5. Perroni, Carlo & Scharf, Kimberley & Talavera, Oleksandr & Vi, Linh, 2021. "Online Salience and Charitable Giving : Evidence from SMS Donations," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1325, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    6. Gallier, Carlo & Goeschl, Timo & Kesternich, Martin & Lohse, Johannes & Reif, Christiane & Römer, Daniel, 2023. "Inter-charity competition under spatial differentiation: Sorting, crowding, and spillovers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 457-468.
    7. Gary Charness & Patrick Holder, 2019. "Charity in the Laboratory: Matching, Competition, and Group Identity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(3), pages 1398-1407, March.
    8. Eckel, Catherine & Guney, Begum & Uler, Neslihan, 2020. "Independent vs. Coordinated Fundraising: Understanding the Role of Information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Alt, Marius & Gallier, Carlo, 2021. "Incentives and intertemporal behavioral spillovers: A two-period experiment on charitable giving," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-010, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Gayle, Philip, 2024. "Do Nonprofits Engage in Excessive Fundraising?," MPRA Paper 120684, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Perroni, Carlo & Scharf, Kimberley & Talavera, Oleksandr & Vi, Linh, 2022. "Does online salience predict charitable giving? Evidence from SMS text donations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 134-149.
    12. Steven Jacob Bosworth & Simon Bartke, 2019. "Cross-task spillovers in workplace teams: Motivation vs. learning," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-15, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    13. Meer, Jonathan, 2017. "Does fundraising create new giving?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 82-93.
    14. Luca Corazzini & Matteo M. Marini, 2022. "Focal points in multiple threshold public goods games: A single-project meta-analysis," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2022-10, Masaryk University, revised Feb 2023.

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    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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