【公开学术报告】​Gift or Donation? Increase the Effectiveness of Charitable Solicitation through Framing Charitable Giving as Gift

Guest Speaker:     Dr. Xue Wang (The University of Hong Kong)

Date & Time:        9:00-10:00, Mon. 27^th, Sept. 2021

Zoom Meeting:    859 054 15641（Password: 100077）

Click Link:            https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85905415641

ABSTRACT

The question of how to improve the effectiveness of charitable solicitation has long been a subject of investigation for charity organizations. Through six studies, including a field study, the present research demonstrates an easy, actionable, and widely applicable semantic-framing strategy that can be utilized to promote charitable giving. Semantically framing charitable giving as gift (rather than donation) increases not only donors’ intention to contribute but their actual amount of contribution (Studies 1–3). Both mediation (Study 4) and moderation (Study 5) approaches provide convergent evidence that the effect of framing charitable giving as gift rather than donation on contribution is driven by donors’ perceived social distance from beneficiaries. We further find that this framing effect is weakened when soliciting contributions from donors who see social distance as desirable (e.g., those with a high need for status; Study 6). The current work contributes to the literatures on charitable giving, social exchange, and semantic framing, and provides strong managerial implications.

Keywords: charitable giving, semantic framing, social distance, social exchange