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The Relative Effectiveness of Three Compliance Techniques in Eliciting Donations to a Cultural Organization
Author(s) -
Brownstein Richard J.,
Katzev Richard D.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1985.tb00920.x
Subject(s) - psychology , compliance (psychology) , social psychology , raising (metalworking) , sign (mathematics) , control (management) , fund raising , law , economics , management , political science , mathematics , higher education , mathematical analysis , geometry
To compare the relative effectiveness of three compliance techniques during a museum fund‐raising drive, 89 individuals were asked to contribute $1 to the museum after having been exposed to an initial request according to one of the following conditions: (1) in the foot‐in‐thedoor condition, individuals were first asked to sign a petition in support of the museum; (2) in the door‐in‐the‐face condition, they were initially asked for a $5 contribution; (3) in the. low‐ball condition, they were asked to contribute 75 cents and then to increase this amount by 25 cents in order to support the children's program: and (4) in the control condition, subjects simply received the target request for $1. The groups differed significantly in terms of the number of individuals who donated, and in the amount of their contributions. The low‐ball condition was generally the most effective, especially with respect to the amount of money contributed. This was followed in turn by the door‐in‐the‐face and control conditions, with the foot‐in‐the‐door condition the least effective in virtually every comparison. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the experimental analysis of compliance, as well as the development of more effective fund‐raising programs.