Self-signalling behaviour and donation causes among Muslim Donors: Evidence from the Field.

Abstract

This study proposes preliminary experimental insights into Muslim donor behaviour in a Western context. In opposition to standard models of indirect reciprocity, previous research shows Muslim donor preferences towards private and out-group causes rather than public and in-group ones. We conducted a field experiment in six Italian Muslim cultural centres to further explore whether the purpose of donation leads to self-signalling donations. To do so, we introduce an innovative collection method that we name semi-public, where donations are anonymous to all fellow community members except for organizers and the local leader. In line with previous field studies, we find a strong preference for private donations with intensive margins higher towards out-group rather than in-group causes. Yet, when the donation setting is semi-public, overall donations are higher compared to those collected in private settings. This result is regardless of donors’ compliance, i.e., whether they actually signalled their donations in the semi-public setting. Not only donations are predominantly private in the semi-public setting, but donations are signalled almost exclusively when contributions benefit the local community, i.e., they are in-group rather than out-group oriented.

Keywords: Donations, Signalling-effect, In-group favouritism, Field experiment, Muslim, Italy.

JEL Classification: D03, D64, D71, Z12