Speaker(s)
René Bekkers (Utrecht University and VU University, Amsterdam)
Date
2009-12-18
Location
Amsterdam

In this paper I present results from four experiments on anonymity, social information and charitable giving. Previous research has shown that anonymity reduces giving (Eckel & Grossman, 1996; Soetevent, 2005), presumably because people care about a prosocial reputation (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2007). Previous research also shows that people are sensitive to social information, imitating the behavior of others (Meier, 2006; Shang and Croson, 2005). The experiments I report were designed to test boundary conditions limiting the effects of anonymity and social information.