Workplace fundraising: The impact of donation information from superior and coworker on employee donations*

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0279

Abstract

Abstract:

Workplace fundraising is an important source of charitable donations. In workplace giving practice, superior often donate first in the hope of serving as role models, yet the effectiveness of this strategy has rarely been tested. Across seven experiments, this study used situations in which coworker donate first as a comparison condition to examine how superior within the organization (including direct superior, higher-level superior, and superior from other departments) donating first affect employees’ donation behavior and the underlying psychological mechanisms. The results show that when superior’ donation amounts are made salient as examples, employees actually donate less, and this effect is mediated by employees’ perceived sense of disadvantage (their perceived disadvantage in terms of position, salary, and career prospects). This study offers important implications for theories and practices of workplace fundraising.

Key words: Workplace fundraising, social influence, social comparison, perceived disadvantage

JIANG Chengming, YANG Xiaojuan, YU Shuqi, CHEN Lina, MA Jiatao. (2026). Workplace fundraising: The impact of donation information from superior and coworker on employee donations^*. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(2), 279-291.

Figures/Tables 4

Figure 1. The Mediating Role of Perceived Disadvantage in the Effect of Prior Donor Identity on Employee Donation Amount.
Note. *** indicates significance at the 0.001 level. The regression coefficients in the figure are all unstandardized regression coefficients.

Figure 2. The Mediating Role of Perceived Disadvantage in the Effect of Prior Donor Identity on Employee Donation Amount.
Note. *** indicates significance at the 0.001 level, ** indicates significance at the 0.01 level. The regression coefficients in the figure are all unstandardized regression coefficients.

Table 1 Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Perceived Disadvantage

Mediation Path	Estimated Coefficient	95% CI
Using the cowoker group as the reference group
direct superior → Perceived disadvantage → Donation amount	?4.38	[?8.47, ?0.33]
direct superior → Donation amount	?24.77	[?33.23, ?16.29]
A higher-level superior → Perceived disadvantage → Donation amount	?5.39	[?10.33, ?0.33]
A higher-level superior → Donation amount	?35.46	[?44.04, ?26.89]
Superior from other departments → Perceived disadvantage → Donation amount	?3.57	[?6.98, ?0.25]
Superior from other departments → Donation amount	?21.98	[?30.61, ?13.35]

Figure 3. The Influence of Different Donation Resource Information from superior (vs. coworker) on Employee Donation Behavior.

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