Using descriptive social norms to increase charitable giving: The power of local norms

•A field experiment examines the impact of descriptive norms on charitable giving.•Descriptive norms appears to be a powerful tool for increasing charitable giving.•Conveying local norms is a more effective strategy than conveying global norms.•Donations are doubled when local norms are added to standard altruistic appeals.

In a field experiment, we examined whether conveying descriptive social norms (e.g., “this is what most people do”) increases charitable giving. Additionally, we examined whether people are more likely to conform to the local norms of one’s immediate environment than to more global norms extending beyond one’s local environment. University students received a charity organization’s information brochure and were asked for a monetary contribution. An experimental descriptive norm manipulation was embedded in the brochure. We found that providing people with descriptive norms increased charitable giving substantially compared with industry standard altruistic appeals (control condition). Moreover, conveying local norms were more effective in increasing charitable giving than conveying global norms. Practical implications for charity organizations and marketing are proposed.