Anonymity in COVID-19 Online Donations: A Cross-Cultural Analysis on Fundraising Platforms

Abstract

Donating money anonymously is often perceived as an act of altruism in Western culture and a similar concept of 'ikhlas' (sincerity) in Indonesia. Yet, this prosocial behavior can also be utilized to cope with unpleasant feelings associated with such donations (e.g., fear of social judgment, guilt) making it otherwise a rather self-serving act. In that regard, we analyzed 20,000 individual donation transactions made for COVID-19 campaigns on two popular fundraising platforms: GoFundMe in the United States and Kitabisa in Indonesia. We found that GoFundMe donors tended to self-identify (33.18% opted for anonymity) while Kitabisa donors tended to conceal their identities (73.89% opted for anonymity). Adjusting the donations to the fractions of GDPs, we further found that anonymous donors on Kitabisa donated significantly less amounts of money (M = .11, SD = .54) in contrast to their self-identified counterparts (M = .26, SD = 3.63), who donated even higher amounts of money than anonymous donors on GoFundMe (M = .16, SD = .66). Even though the amount of money may not always entail the rate of altruism nor ikhlas, the significant findings bring the cultural belief associated with such anonymous donations into questions.

Unveiling the veil: exploring how wellbeing motivations shape anonymous and public prosocial behavior in Indonesia

“…A research in Indonesia uncovered a compelling phenomenon wherein self-identified donors contributed significantly more money on online donation platforms than did their anonymous counterparts [3]. An experimental study demonstrated that individuals with a high interdependent self-construal were inclined to make donations when their actions could be observed in a public context, driven by a desire to portray themselves as caring individuals [36].…”

“…According to a 2022 Expat Insider survey, Indonesia is the second most friendly country in the world where expatriates or foreign workers feel treated kindly as foreigners and do not find it difficult to make friends [2]. Anonymous donations during the COVID-19 outbreak were more widespread in Indonesia than in the U.S. [3]. Other data also showed that the participation of Indonesian Gen-Z (born between 1997 and 2012) in online donations increased [4].…”

Sentiment Analysis of Facebook Posts through Special Reactions: The Case of Learning from Home in Indonesia Amid COVID-19

“…hate speech [5], political preferences [6], climate change [7], domestic violence [8], pop culture [9], cybersecurity and privacy [10], online donations [11], and online fraud [12].…”

COVID-19 mass media coverage in English and public reactions: a West-East comparison via Facebook posts

“…In addition, digital footprints on social media capture things as they have occurred, which is not always the case in traditional approaches like surveys and interviews. As a result, these digital footprints have also been extensively employed to study a wide range of social topics on the internet and in particular on social media over the past decade, including those that are quite sensitive such as anonymous online donations ( Firmansyah & Pratama, 2021 ), racial digital identities ( Firmansyah & Jones, 2019 ), and political preferences ( Oliveira, Bermejo & dos Santos, 2017 ).…”