Does Discussing How Much to Share Affect Sharing Behavior and Trust?

30 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2021 Last revised: 6 Sep 2023

See all articles by Jan Biermann

Jan Biermann

University of Hamburg

Hendrik Hüning

Hamburg University

Lydia Mechtenberg

University of Hamburg

Date Written: September 3, 2023

Abstract

This paper examines how the discussion of charitable giving affects donations to refugees and trust between school minors. In a lab-in-the-field experiment with 488 school minors from 13 schools, we randomly assign school minors into pairs that discuss and decide how much of a common fund to transfer to refugee minors. The discussion takes place in a digital chat environment. A treatment without discussion serves as a benchmark without social interaction. Before and after, pairs play a trust game that allows us to measure changes in trust due to the donation discussion and decision. We find that discussing charitable giving increases donation amounts by more than 14%. Moreover, school minors that are perceived as refugee-friendly after the discussion benefit from increased trust by their chat-partner. Our results hold relevance for how social information affect donation behavior and how charitable giving serves as a signal of trustworthiness.

Keywords: Communication, trust, text data, collective decisions, donation, generosity

JEL Classification: C93, D70, D83

Suggested Citation

Biermann, Jan and Hüning, Hendrik and Mechtenberg, Lydia, Does Discussing How Much to Share Affect Sharing Behavior and Trust? (September 3, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3945496 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3945496

Jan Biermann

University of Hamburg ( email )

Allende-Platz 1
Hamburg, 20146
Germany

Hendrik Hüning (Contact Author)

Hamburg University ( email )

Von-Melle-Park 5
Hamburg, DE Hamburg 20146
Germany

Lydia Mechtenberg

University of Hamburg ( email )

Allende-Platz 1
Hamburg, 20146
Germany

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