Social Norms and Charitable Giving: A Meta-Analytic Review

Charitable giving is essential for supporting collective action on various social and environmental problems. Social norms are known to sometimes affect giving, but not always. In this multilevel meta-analysis, we aggregate data from 113 independent samples from research involving 100,469 people in 22 countries to understand the extent to which social norms influence charitable giving (r = .18, p < .001). We test a range of theoretical, methodological, and sample moderators to understand the conditions under which norms may be most effective at promoting giving. The relationship was stronger for injunctive than descriptive norms, when the norm referent was friends and family (vs. no referent or another ingroup), for internalized (vs. externally presented) norms, and potentially when the giving behavior was observed by others. Norms appear effective for most people, and especially for younger people and in non-WEIRD and collectivist contexts. Effects, however, were only found in published research and non-preregistered studies.