Recipient Gender & Donor Culture: Influencing Donation Decisions
The study "Helping a Boy or a Girl? The Effect of Recipient's Gender and Donor's Culture on Donation Decisions" by Ein‐Gar et al. (2025) reveals that donor preferences for a recipient's gender are significantly influenced by cultural norms. Specifically, donors in Western cultures, such as the United States, tend to prefer donating to girls, while those in Eastern cultures, like China, show a preference for donating to boys. This cultural influence on gender preferences for donations is observed when the recipient's gender is salient and provides a culturally justifiable reason for the donor's choice. However, the child's gender does not affect donation behavior when the choice is between an organization and a single child.
In the US more donors preferred to donate to a girl over a boy, while in China, more donors preferred to donate to a boy over a girl.
This paper shows the effect of recipients’ gender on donors’ preferences, depending on donors’ culture. Among study participants from both Eastern and Western cultures, the choice of donating to a boy or a girl followed donors’ cultural norms.
In Western culture (e.g., the United States), donors chose to donate to a girl over a boy, whereas in Eastern culture (e.g., China), the choice was reversed.
A choice set of different-gender recipients increased donations (compared to a choice set of the same gender), as gender stereotypes served to justify choosing one recipient over the other. However, when the choice was between an organization and a single child, the child’s gender (either boy or girl) did not affect donation behavior.
Thus, gender preferences are driven by cultural norms only in cases where the recipient’s gender is salient and serves as a culturally justifiable reason for the donor’s choice.