Social Desirability and Charitable Donation Decisions

Last registered on March 13, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Desirability and Charitable Donation Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011033
Initial registration date
March 02, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 13, 2023, 8:39 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Chicago; Australian National University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-04-01
End date
2023-05-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study is aimed at understanding how social desirability affects charitable giving.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Roy, Sutanuka. 2023. "Social Desirability and Charitable Donation Decisions." AEA RCT Registry. March 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11033-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
We will recruit survey participants to conduct an online survey. With this survey, we plan to study 1) whether participants' charitable donation decisions are affected by implied exposure of their donation decisions to older or younger or same-generation groups of the locality they reside in and 2) whether there exists heterogeneity in treatment effects by kinship culture of the participant’s ancestry.
First, all subjects will answer a few demographic questions. We will conduct 4 main experiments. In each experiment, the participants will be randomized into two groups: control and treatment. In all experiments, subjects in the control group will be given the option to donate to a charitable organization of their choosing and their choices will remain private. Treatment groups in experiment-1 will be given the option to donate to a charitable organization of their choosing and they will be informed that their choices will be made public anonymously. Treatment groups in experiment-2 will be given the option to donate to a charitable organization of their choosing and the treatment will be implied exposure of their donation decisions to the younger age groups of the community they reside in. Treatment groups in experiment-3 will be given the option to donate to a charitable organization of their choosing and the treatment will be implied exposure of their donation decisions to the older age groups of the community they reside in. Treatment groups in experiment-4 will be given the option to donate to a charitable organization of their choosing and the treatment will be implied exposure of their donation decisions to the similar age groups of the community they reside in.
In follow-up experiments, we will test the same hypotheses by varying the incentives, framing of information intervention, and by explicitly inducing experimenter demand effects.
Intervention Start Date
2023-04-01
Intervention End Date
2023-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Donation decisions at the extensive margin and the amount donated and the charity organization chosen. Further, we have an incentivized belief elicitation question about the share of people in their neighborhood (by age groups) who would select the same charity organization.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental design entails keeping information on subject choices private in the control group and making information on subject choices public in treatment groups. There are 4 main experiments, each with single treatment group. There will also be several follow up experiments to address concerns of framing effects, experimental demand effects and incentive effects.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Individual level randomization with the randomization code built into the survey in Qualtrics. The randomization is done by computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We have 3000 individuals per experiment, with 50% in control and 50% in treatment.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We have 3000 individuals per experiment, with 50% in control and 50% in treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The ANU Human Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2023-02-23
IRB Approval Number
2022/772

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials