Abstract

A large literature exists that suggests that people’s decisions across many facets of their life are influenced by other people. We report the results of two field experiments in which we test the influence of a salient but socially remote individual – a celebrity – on the charitable giving decisions of participants. We find the celebrities are immediately effective, but that this effect is either small or attenuates over time. More consistent effects are found, however, among participants who are more pre-disposed to donate at the outset.