Institutional trust and prosocial behavior in China: an experimental approach

We present three studies to demonstrate the important role of institutional trust in promoting prosocial behavior in China. In study 1, we used a Chinese national survey and found that institutional trust significantly predicted people’s donation and volunteer activities. In study 2, we experimentally examined the effects of institutional trust in public goods games. Participants allocated more money to public accounts when a positive impression of institutions was implicitly activated than when a negative impression or no concepts were activated. In study 3, we tested the effects of institutional trust in a field experiment with a “pay what you want” strategy. In a charity bazaar, participants who received leaflets that implicitly activated institutional concepts paid more money.