Problem definition: Although in-kind donations contribute to charity’s triple bottom line (i.e., generating additional revenue for the charity, contributing to social welfare, and reducing environmental waste through rechanneling used items), inappropriate material donations impose additional costs to sort, process, or discard them. Minimizing the amount of undesired in-kind donations, however, is a challenge given charities’ sensitive relationship with their donors. This paper examines the effectiveness of behavioral interventions on improving the quality of in-kind donations gifted by individuals. Methodology/results: We conducted a field experiment to implement interventions motivated by two well-established behavioral mechanisms: information disclosure and social norm. We studied the reaction of 763 donors who were scheduled to make an in-kind donation at a local charity between October 31 and November 11, 2020. Our results show that using the social norm intervention effectively improved the quality of in-kind donations, whereas information disclosure, which is commonly used in practice as the industry standard intervention, was ineffective. We also conducted two postexperiment analyses. First, we collected additional data on 1,301 in-kind donations whose donors had received the social norm intervention during February 2021. Results show that the impact of the social norm intervention is stable over different time periods. Second, we studied the spillover effect of these interventions for a period of 12 months and did not find a negative long-term impact on in-kind donations. Managerial implications: A conservative estimation shows that implementing the social norm intervention reduced the junk donations received by 50% without having a negative spillover effect on donors’ in-kind donations or imposing any direct operating cost. Consequently, this field evidence provides an effective, cost-efficient, and scalable solution for charities to address the quality problem of in-kind donations. In addition, our results challenge the industry conventional practice of incorporating information disclosure in their communications with donors. Funding: This work was supported by Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust [Grant: 2020 Initiative].
This qualitative study explores the representations that undergraduate students at the University of Chile have with regards to the concepts: "equity" and "quality in education". These conceptual constructs were studied in a sample of 70 students enrolled in the majors of history, psychology and educational psychology using natural semantic networks. The main results suggest that for students from the sample, equity and quality in education are both a right and a need that promote equality, which (may) give them opportunities. Students perceive that equity and quality in education should offset inequality and could be made evident by sustainable development.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.