When Public Recognition Inhibits Prosocial Behavior: The Case of Charitable Giving

Abstract

Commonly regarded as an important driver of donation behavior, public recognition also can reduce donations. With three studies, this research manipulates whether donors receive public, private, imposed, or optional forms of recognition; the results show that the influence of recognition on the decision to donate is moderated by donors’ need for social approval. Whereas public recognition improves charitable giving among people with higher need for approval, imposing recognition reduces donations among people with lower need, suggesting a potential crowding-out effect on prior motives (Study 1). This penalty for public recognition disappears when the public recognition is optional (Study 2). When public recognition is saliently imposed (not requested), donation likelihood increases, suggesting that donors’ potential concerns about observers’ suspicion of their true motives is reduced (Study 3). This research highlights conditions in which public recognition encourages charitable giving and paves the way for further research on social dimensions of generosity.

Perception of Internal Controls Helps Explain Whistleblowing

“…Future research should continue to inform the nonprofit community of changes relating to the perception of the nonprofit whistleblowing website option. In addition, research has shown that prosocial behavior is reduced for those with lower recognition need (Dennis et al, 2020). Given the whistleblower protection laws focus on for-profit public companies, future regulation to protect nonprofit whistleblowers may increase such behavior.…”

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: the social costs of prosocial behaviour

“…Notably, a recent meta-analysis found that although there is a small and statistically significant positive effect of observability on prosocial behaviour, the effect is highly heterogeneous and context-dependent (164). For example, public recognition can decrease people's willingness to donate blood (165) or to donate to charity (166)(167)(168). Experimental studies have shown that individuals feel uncomfortable when they learn that they are morally superior to their peers (169) or when their moral actions are highlighted to others (170) and these negative feelings might prompt individuals to hide their good deeds from others.…”

Should charitable acts be private or publicly visible? A dilemma for charitable organizations

“…Public recognition has been regarded as a facilitator for charitable giving (Denis et al, 2020) and thus it has become one of the most common approaches applied by charitable organizations to increase donations (Lucas, 2017). Charitable public recognition is defined as "occurring when the donor's donation decision will be made known to others" (Simpson et al, 2018) and "offering supporters the chance to visibly show to their peers that they have done a good deed" (Lucas, 2017).…”

“…Intuitively, public recognition provides individuals with a motivational drive of social approval to engage in charitable giving, and thus charitable organizations are increasingly adopting public recognition as a means to encourage charitable giving (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011). However, some recent research suggests that public recognition is not necessarily superior to private recognition in the practice of charitable giving (Denis et al, 2020;Simpson et al, 2018). For example, if the donation is inspired by intrinsic factors such as guilt or personal values, public recognition may backfire (Denis et al, 2020;Simpson et al, 2018).…”

“…However, some recent research suggests that public recognition is not necessarily superior to private recognition in the practice of charitable giving (Denis et al, 2020;Simpson et al, 2018). For example, if the donation is inspired by intrinsic factors such as guilt or personal values, public recognition may backfire (Denis et al, 2020;Simpson et al, 2018). Those contrasting conclusions create a dilemma for charitable organizations (Bhati & McDonnell, 2020;Chapman et al, 2019).…”