How much to donate, and to whom? The effects of framing of charitable solicitations on moral judgment

We study how the framing of the charitable “ask” affects moral judgment and thus how much to donate and to whom. We develop a theoretical framework grounded in insights developed by Adam Smith in his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and psychological construal level theory. The framework rests on the effects of variations in the salience of donors’ financial interest and in their distance/detachment from the targets of their generosity. We hypothesize that (1) increasing the salience of donors’ self-interest will act like an increase in the price of giving, and (2) increasing the distance or detachment of the donor from the charitable targets induces substitution in giving towards the poor and the needy, away from cultural and other ordinary purposes. We design four modified dictator game experiments with seven local charitable organizations. In a conventional model an individual will make equivalent choices of donations, but if moral judgment is activated by framing, the choices will differ. In an experiment with a mixed withinand between-subjects design with 157 participants, we find empirical support for our hypotheses. Professor, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, [email protected] Ph.D. Candidate, Economics Department, University of Minnesota, [email protected] Graduate Student, Psychology Department, New York University, [email protected]