工作场所募捐: 上级与同事捐赠额信息对员工捐赠额的影响

Workplace fundraising, which serves as an important source of charitable funding is an effective means of quickly engaging a large pool of potential donors. A common strategy involves having superiors donate first, aiming to set an example and encourage employees to participate. However, the effectiveness of this approach warrants further investigation. To explore this, we conducted seven experimental studies with employed individuals aged 18 and above, examining how donations made by superiors (versus coworkers) might suppress employees’ donation amounts and identify the psychological mechanisms underlying this effect. Experiment 1a (N = 313) adopted a between-subjects design with five groups: 2 (previous donor identity: direct superior versus coworkers) × 2 (donation anchor value: high versus low) plus a group without social information. The results showed that employees donated less when informed of their superiors’ (versus coworkers) donation amounts. Additionally, under the high-anchor condition, employees increased their donation amounts. The interaction between the previous donor and donation anchor was not significant. Experiment 1b (N = 307), using a different charity scenario and a fixed set of seven donation options, replicated the suppressive effect of superiors’ (versus coworkers’) donations on employee contributions. Experiment 2a (N = 252) examined the mediating role of perceived disadvantage and ruled out two alternative explanations, shared responsibility and other-enhanced motivation. Experiment 2b (N = 247) employed an incentive-compatible charitable donation task to further examine the mediating mechanism of perceived disadvantage and to eliminate alternative interpretations of social pressure. Experiment 3 (N = 210) further validated the mediating role of perceived disadvantage by manipulating this mediator. A 2 (previous donor: superior versus coworker) × 2(perceived disadvantage manipulation: present versus absent) between-subjects design was employed. In the perceived disadvantage-manipulation condition, participants were instructed to imagine that their superiors or coworkers performed worse than themselves in various domains including ability, goal achievement speed, resources, and respect. The results showed that the manipulation increased donation amounts for both the superior and coworker groups. These results further validated the mediating role of perceived disadvantage. Experiment 4 (N = 286) further categorized superiors into direct superiors, higher-level superiors, and superiors from other departments using a four-group (previous donor type: coworkers, direct superiors, higher-level superiors, and other department superiors) between-subjects design. The results showed that participants donated significantly less when informed about donations from any type of superior compared to coworkers. These results further supported the hypothesis that donations made by superiors (versus coworkers) suppress employee donation amounts and reinforced the mediating role of perceived disadvantages. Experiment 5 (N = 250) compared the effects of monetary and time donations on workplace fundraising. Using a 2 (charitable resource: money versus time) × 2 (previous donor type: superior versus coworkers) between-subjects design, the results showed that donations made by superiors suppress employees’ monetary contributions, but this suppression effect is not observed in the case of time-based donations. These findings suggest that in the context of workplace fundraising, the current top-down donation strategy may not be the most effective. In a top-down approach, employees’ donation decisions are influenced by upward social comparisons, where the perception of being disadvantaged relative to superiors suppresses their willingness to contribute. To mitigate this effect, organizations can minimize the impact of upward comparisons during fundraising campaigns. Encouraging generous employees to take the lead in making donations may be a more effective approach to maximizing overall contributions.