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Driving toward a goal and the goal‐gradient hypothesis: the impact of goal proximity on compliance rate, donation size, and fatigue
Author(s) -
Jensen Jakob D.,
King Andy J.,
Carcioppolo Nick
Publication year - 2013
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/jasp.12152
Subject(s) - persuasion , goal setting , compliance (psychology) , donation , psychology , matching (statistics) , applied psychology , goal orientation , social psychology , political science , law , statistics , mathematics
Driving toward a goal (DTAG) is a compliance technique derived from observed persuasion practice (e.g., telethons) wherein the persuader utilizes a goal pitch (e.g., “Help us raise $500”) and progress toward a goal (e.g., a tote board) to encourage compliance. It was postulated that DTAG would be more effective than legitimizing a paltry contribution ( LPC ) at increasing compliance rate, size, and stability. In Study 1, a fundraising field experiment ( N = 840 donations) found that LPC garnered significantly more donations and DTAG garnered significantly larger donations. In Study 2, a lab experiment ( N = 992 participants) found that LPC garnered more donations at Time 1, DTAG garnered more donations over time (eventually matching LPC ), and LPC yielded smaller donations over time.