Zhang, L. orcid.org/0000-0002-7512-9605, Allard, T., Hardisty, D.J. et al. (1 more author) (2025) The charity capacity curse. Journal of Consumer Psychology. ISSN: 1057-7408
Abstract
Can displays of charity capacity cues paradoxically harm charities' fundraising efforts? Six pre-registered studies provide evidence of a charity capacity curse whereby donors penalize charities for displaying capacity cues, such as human resources capacity, organizational capacity, and financial capacity cues. This curse occurs because donors perceive higher-capacity charities as needing less help. As donors typically donate based on need, they donate less to charities with superior capacity signals. This effect is attenuated when: (1) higher-capacity charities' needs are made salient, and (2) donors reflect on how their decision impacts end-beneficiaries. This research contributes to the literature on effective altruism and charity perceptions while offering managerial insights for charities seeking to optimize their fundraising communications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | charity capacity, consumer bias, effective altruism, perceived need, prosocial behavior |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Marketing Division (LUBS) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jun 2025 11:08 |
Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2025 05:00 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/jcpy.70000 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:227792 |
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