The Effect of the Amount Reference in the Legitimizing Paltry Contribution Technique on Altruism

Abstract

Earlier research on the legitimizing paltry contribution (LPC) technique has found that the statement “Even a penny will help …” added to a request for charity donation increases compliance to the request. This study tested the effectiveness of the LPC technique with different statements. In bakeries, an opaque moneybox was placed near the cash register with a message explaining, on the first line, that the solicitation was for a humanitarian project for African children conducted by students. On the second line, the words “Even a one centime coin will help …” (amount LPC), “Even the smallest coin will help …” (no amount LPC), or no inscription (control no LPC) appeared. This second line was changed each day and for each bakery according to a random distribution. Results showed that more donations were made in the amount LPC condition compared to the two others, whereas the no amount LPC condition was different than the control no LPC condition.

Keywords:

• Altruism
• Compliance
• Legitimization of Paltry Contribution

Notes

Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses. LPC = legitimizing paltry contribution.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicolas Guéguen

Nicolas Guéguen (PhD, Université de Rennes 2, 1994) is a professor in the Institut de Management de Bretagne-Sud (IMABS) at the Université de Bretagne-Sud UFR DSEG.