On Reminder Effects, Drop-Outs and Dominance: Evidence from an Online Experiment on Charitable Giving

PLoS One

Daniel John Zizzo¹  Axel Sonntag² 

[1]Behavioural and Experimental Northeast Cluster and Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom

[2]Centre of Behavioural and Experimental Social Science and School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom

关键词: Payment;    Experimental economics;    Salaries;    Finance;    Questionnaires;    Experimental design;    Computer security;    Health economics;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0134705

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

We present the results of an experiment that (a) shows the usefulness of screening out drop-outs and (b) tests whether different methods of payment and reminder intervals affect charitable giving. Following a lab session, participants could make online donations to charity for a total duration of three months. Our procedure justifying the exclusion of drop-outs consists in requiring participants to collect payments in person flexibly and as known in advance and as highlighted to them later. Our interpretation is that participants who failed to collect their positive payments under these circumstances are likely not to satisfy dominance. If we restrict the sample to subjects who did not drop out, but not otherwise, reminders significantly increase the overall amount of charitable giving. We also find that weekly reminders are no more effective than monthly reminders in increasing charitable giving, and that, in our three months duration experiment, standing orders do not increase giving relative to one-off donations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY