You Can Help Us! The Impact of Formal and Informal Second-Person Pronouns on Monetary Donations
Sebastian Sadowski,
Helen de Hoop,
Laura Meijburg
Abstract:Does it matter whether charitable organizations address potential donors with an informal or formal second-person pronoun in their appeal to donate money? This study shows that it does indeed make a difference. Using an informal pronoun of address can have a positive effect on intentions to donate money. An online experiment (n = 220) found that a charitable appeal to potential donors was more effective when an informal rather than a formal second-person pronoun was used in Dutch, particularly for altruistic p… Show more
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