COVID-19 and pro-sociality: How do donors respond to local pandemic severity, increased salience, and media coverage?

Adena, Maja; Harke, Julian

doi:10.1007/s10683-022-09753-y

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…According to parasite stress theory ( 12 ) and terror management theory ( 13 , 14 ), exposure to life-threatening events should strengthen a sense of belonging to the in-group and reinforce cooperation. Consistent with these theories, recent studies find that exposure to the “first wave” of the COVID-19 crisis is associated with increased charity donations in the United States and in Italy ( 15 ); even a mere reminder of the negative consequences of the pandemic is shown to increase donations in England ( 16 ) and make US citizens more willing to prioritize society’s problems over their own ( 17 ). Furthermore, longitudinal evidence shows that, relative to prepandemic levels, interpersonal trust increased during the first phase of the pandemic in Sweden ( 18 ), Korea ( 19 ), and the United States ( 20 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 86%

COVID-19 infection induces higher trust in strangers

Gambetta

Morisi

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect interpersonal trust? Most evidence shows that natural disasters reinforce trust and cooperation, but the COVID-19 virus differs from other calamities, since it spreads through contact with people, potentially increasing suspicion and distrust, as, according to contemporaneous writers’ accounts, seems to have been the case with the Black Death, the London plague, and the Spanish influenza. We investigate the link between interpersonal trust and individuals exposed to COVID-19, either vicariously through their community or networks or directly by becoming infected. We rely on an original panel survey, including a survey experiment, with a representative sample of adults in Italy, one of the countries hardest struck by the pandemic. Our experimental findings reveal that priming people about the risk that the pandemic poses to their health leads to a substantial increase in their trust in strangers. Our panel data analysis of within-individual effects shows that those who become infected trust strangers more than those who are not infected. Our findings could be explained by people observing higher than expected altruistic behavior or becoming more dependent on other people’s support, consistent with the “emancipation theory of trust.” When people recover from COVID-19, however, they drop to trusting strangers as much as those who were not directly exposed to the virus, an indication that the positive effects on trust during the pandemic have an emotional source. Nonetheless, the evidence suggests that, in the aggregate, there has been a small but significant increase in trust among the general population relative to prepandemic levels.

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confidence: 86%

COVID-19 infection induces higher trust in strangers

Gambetta

Morisi

2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“… 65 These negative effects might eventually outweigh the positive effect of pandemic on prosociality. 66 As resources become scarcer due to the pandemic’s persistence and resurgences, competition between individuals can increase, leading to a decrease in prosocial behavior. 67 , 68 Consequently, people become more concerned about and susceptible to negative social information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the pandemic persisted, however, individuals suffering negative impacts on their financial situation or physical and/or mental health behaved less prosocially. 66 From trough to resurgence stage, individuals might thus have expected to receive a stronger negative external evaluation when behaving contrary to negative social information. On this basis, social anxiety mediated the relationship between pandemic status and the nudge power of negative social information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the Power of Social Example Fade? Nudge Effect of Social Information on Individual’s Donation Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model with Three-Wave Cross-Sectional Data

Li¹,

Li²,

Li³

2023

PRBM

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Purpose This study assesses how various social information influence individuals’ money donation behaviors towards charitable funds against the COVID-19 pandemic at different stages of the pandemic. It also explores the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of self-control. Materials and Methods This three-wave study was conducted with online survey experiments using convenience sampling at the pandemic’s outbreak stage (April–June 2020), trough stage (February–March 2021), and resurgence stage (May 2022) in China. The nudge power of social information was measured by whether participants changed their initial money donation decisions after informed positive or negative social information. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) and self-control (Self-Control Scale). The final data set included 1371 participants from 26 provinces of mainland China. Stata medeff package and SPSS PROCESS were used to analyze the data. Results Individuals’ initial donation behaviors did not fluctuate along with the pandemic status, but the nudge effect of social information did. From outbreak stage to trough stage, the nudge power of positive social information significantly declined, but did not significantly change again at the resurgence stage. By contrast, the nudge power of negative social information did not significantly differ between outbreak and trough stage but did significantly increase at the resurgence stage. Social anxiety played a significant mediating role in the relationship between COVID-19 status and power of social information. Moreover, self-control moderated the direct effect of COVID-19 status on power of social information and the indirect effect via social anxiety. Conclusion Our findings enrich research on the nudge power variation of social information on individuals’ donation behaviors along with the pandemic status and its potential psychological influence factors. This study also helps guide organizations to better design and carry out social information nudge mechanism.

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“…A third set of studies examine the effects of the Covid-19 exposure and Covid-19 priming on altruism. Alsharawy et al ( 2021 ), Grimalda et al ( 2021 ) and Adena and Harke ( 2022 ) report a positive effect of the Covid-19 fear, exposure and local news on altruism, respectively. Adena and Harke ( 2022 ) and Cappelen et al ( 2021 ) find that priming people with Covid-19 enhances altruism compared to the control group.…”

Section: The Effect Of Pandemic On Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Alsharawy et al ( 2021 ), Grimalda et al ( 2021 ) and Adena and Harke ( 2022 ) report a positive effect of the Covid-19 fear, exposure and local news on altruism, respectively. Adena and Harke ( 2022 ) and Cappelen et al ( 2021 ) find that priming people with Covid-19 enhances altruism compared to the control group. Contrarily, Bogliacino et al ( 2021 ) find no significant effect of the negative Covid-19 shocks (labor, health, stressful events and mental health shock) on altruism.…”

Section: The Effect Of Pandemic On Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 97%

A selected literature review of the effect of Covid-19 on preferences

Umer

2023

J Econ Sci Assoc

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This article surveys the rapidly growing literature that examined the influence of Covid-19 on preferences. Based on 33 studies, the article examines how the pandemic impacted altruism, cooperation, trust, inequity aversion, risk-taking, and patience/time discounting. Even though the survey suggests the effect of the pandemic on preferences is heterogeneous, some noticeable patterns can be observed in the literature. First, in the case of incentivized preference elicitation, there is weak evidence that the pandemic positively influenced altruism and had no significant impact on time preferences or patience. Second, many studies that used balanced panel data and incentivized preference elicitation mechanisms do not find a significant effect of the pandemic on preferences. Last, studies that used unincentivized methods to elicit preferences show relatively higher variability in results when compared to the studies that used incentivized methods for preference elicitation. The organized synthesis and several noticeable patterns can help future research focusing on preference stability during Covid-19 and other unfavorable events. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40881-023-00127-5.

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COVID-19 and pro-sociality: How do donors respond to local pandemic severity, increased salience, and media coverage?

Cited by 23 publications

References 51 publications

COVID-19 infection induces higher trust in strangers

COVID-19 infection induces higher trust in strangers

Does the Power of Social Example Fade? Nudge Effect of Social Information on Individual’s Donation Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model with Three-Wave Cross-Sectional Data

A selected literature review of the effect of Covid-19 on preferences

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