The Impact of Observing Peers’ Giving Behavior: A Field Study
2020
Our paper studies the impact of peer’s giving behavior on people’s willingness to donate. We implement a field experiment on donations to street performers at stoplights on the streets of Lima, Perú. The level of analysis is the vehicle and the treatment condition is defined as observing another vehicle making a donation. We use natural variation in donations made by passing-by drivers, as well as experimentally-manipulated variation in donations made by hired drivers. We study how observing a donation from another vehicle affects the probability and magnitude of donations of treated vehicles. Our experiment results indicate a strong substitution effect of peer influence. When drivers observe another vehicle donate, they are significantly less likely to make a donation to the same performer and overall average donations are lower as well. Our study contributes to the literature by bringing evidence of peer influence in donations from the developing world.
Recommended citation: López Vargas, K., Rossi, A. & Zhang, R. (2020). "The Impact of Observing Peers' Giving Behavior: A Field Study." Working Paper.