Gender and generosity: How contribution information triggers solidarity behavior during a crisis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important solidarity and prosocial behavior are in society. However, it is not well understood how solidarity behavior can be encouraged in such extreme cases. This study investigates the effect of activating crisis concerns and contribution information on solidarity perception and behavior using an experimental survey of 1,259 respondents in 2022 from Vietnam. Our findings reveal that (i) there exists a perception-actual behavior gap as the available information is not able to promote solidarity behavior, (ii) activating concerns about the impact of a crisis, i.e., COVID-19, does not trigger prosocial perception and behavior, (iii) contribution information improves solidarity perception, and (iv) females tend to donate more than their male counterparts. When aiming to promote solidarity behavior, it is important to be aware of the prosocial perception-behavior gap, and consider different strategies for males and females, including paying more attention to evoking moral emotions in women.