When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations
In fundraising, it is common for the donor to see how much a charity has received so far. What is the impact of this information on a) how much people choose to donate and b) which charity they choose to donate to? Conditional cooperation suggests that people will donate to the charity that has rece...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/ |
| _version_ | 1848798381074284544 |
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| author | Bradley, Alex Lawrence, Claire Ferguson, Eamonn |
| author_facet | Bradley, Alex Lawrence, Claire Ferguson, Eamonn |
| author_sort | Bradley, Alex |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In fundraising, it is common for the donor to see how much a charity has received so far. What is the impact of this information on a) how much people choose to donate and b) which charity they choose to donate to? Conditional cooperation suggests that people will donate to the charity that has received the most prior support, while the Underdog Effect suggests increased donations to the charity with the least support. Across 2 laboratory experiments, an online study (combined N = 494) and a qualitative survey (N = 60), a consistent preference to donate to the charity with the least prior support was observed. Thus, the Underdog Effect was supported. We suggest people will show a preference for the underdog if there are two or more charities to donate to, one of the charities is at a disadvantage and people have little pre-existing loyalty to either charity. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-50967 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:52Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SAGE |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-509672018-09-19T11:06:19Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/ When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations Bradley, Alex Lawrence, Claire Ferguson, Eamonn In fundraising, it is common for the donor to see how much a charity has received so far. What is the impact of this information on a) how much people choose to donate and b) which charity they choose to donate to? Conditional cooperation suggests that people will donate to the charity that has received the most prior support, while the Underdog Effect suggests increased donations to the charity with the least support. Across 2 laboratory experiments, an online study (combined N = 494) and a qualitative survey (N = 60), a consistent preference to donate to the charity with the least prior support was observed. Thus, the Underdog Effect was supported. We suggest people will show a preference for the underdog if there are two or more charities to donate to, one of the charities is at a disadvantage and people have little pre-existing loyalty to either charity. SAGE 2018-08-17 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/1/Underdog%20effects%20on%20charitable%20donations%20Eprints%20Version.pdf Bradley, Alex, Lawrence, Claire and Ferguson, Eamonn (2018) When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly . ISSN 1552-7395 Social Information Charitable Donations Underdog Effect Impact Philanthropy http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0899764018794305 doi:10.1177/0899764018794305 doi:10.1177/0899764018794305 |
| spellingShingle | Social Information Charitable Donations Underdog Effect Impact Philanthropy Bradley, Alex Lawrence, Claire Ferguson, Eamonn When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title | When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title_full | When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title_fullStr | When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title_full_unstemmed | When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title_short | When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations |
| title_sort | when the relatively poor prosper: the underdog effect on charitable donations |
| topic | Social Information Charitable Donations Underdog Effect Impact Philanthropy |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50967/ |