When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations

Bradley, Alex; Lawrence, Claire; Ferguson, Eamonn

Abstract

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.

Citation

Bradley, A., Lawrence, C., & Ferguson, E. (2019). When the relatively poor prosper: the Underdog Effect on charitable donations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(1), 108-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764018794305

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 17, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 6, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 17, 2018
• Journal: Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 0899-7640
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-7395
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 108-127
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764018794305
• Keywords: Social Information, Charitable Donations, Underdog Effect, Impact Philanthropy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/921344
• Publisher URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0899764018794305