4 May 2020

Author:

Prof. Hanna Zagefka

Royal Holloway University of London

Department of Psychology

Hanna.Zagefka@rhul.ac.uk

Evidence for the International Development Select Committee (chair: Sarah Champion MP) on the impact of coronavirus on developing countries (Humanitarian crises monitoring)

The presented evidence speaks to this aspect of the inquiry:

• The impact of the outbreak, and consequential mitigation measures, on fund-raising by UK-based development charities/NGOs

Summary of key points

A rapid response programme of research tested predictors of British nationals donating money to coronavirus relief efforts in developing countries. Key findings:

1. Views on who is to blame for the coronavirus crisis affect British donors’ decisions of whether to donate to coronavirus relief efforts in developing countries. A belief that the British government has mishandled the crisis encourages donations
2. A belief that the Chinese government has mishandled the crisis discourages donations1
3. A belief that coronavirus victims in developing countries are to blame for their problems themselves discourages donations2
4. Seeing the coronavirus crisis as a global problem that can only be addressed by cooperation across the globe encourages donations to developing countries3

Relevance/implications of insights

• The COVid-19 outbreak will impact fundraising efforts by UK-based development charities/NGOs, because different domestic and international donation appeals compete with each other4
• Implications of the pandemic for funding issues in the aid sector can be minimised by intelligent design of donation appeals, taking psychological processes into account:
• Donation appeals will be more successful if they are designed to emphasise the innocence of those suffering from the coronavirus crisis in developing countries
• Donation appeals will be more successful if they are designed to emphasise that this is a global threat and that all humanity needs to unite to address the problem
• Media coverage that attributes blame to different governments directly affects the public’s appetite to support fund-raising efforts by UK-based development charities

Further details5

• Insights are based on
• Three rapidly conducted online studies of British nationals which are currently under review (N ca 700)
• Relevant insights from previously published papers (see below); research funded by ESRC
• The author is happy to share materials, manuscripts, data upon request

Limitations & strengths of evidence

• Some of the data is correlational, so caution needs to be exerted when making inferences about causality
• Some of the studies did not assess actual donation behaviour, but self-reported willingness to donate. However, there is good evidence that self-reports are a good proxy for actual donation behaviour2

The author

Is professor of social psychology at Royal Holloway University of London. Her lab researches prosocial behaviour and intergroup helping.

Key sources of information/references

1              Zagefka, H. (under review). Willingness to donate money to help coronavirus victims: effects of group identities and blame attributions. British Journal of Social Psychology.

2              Zagefka, H., et al. (2011). Donating to disaster victims: responses to natural and humanly caused events. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 353-363.

3         Zagefka, H. (under review). Anxiety and Global Common Fate as Predictors of Ingroup and Outgroup Helping in the Context of COVID-19. British Journal of Social Psychology.

4         Zagefka, H., & James, T. (2015). The psychology of charitable donations to disaster victims and beyond. Social Issues and Policy Review, 9, 155-192.

5         Oppenheimer, D. M., & Olivola, C. Y. (Eds.). (2011). The science of giving. London: Psychology Press.

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