Nudging Charitable Giving: What (If Anything) Is Wrong With It?
Von Oldenburg-Ruehle,Rebecca Engelen,Bart Archer,Alfred
Von Oldenburg-Ruehle,Rebecca
Engelen,Bart
Archer,Alfred
Abstract
Nudging techniques can help charities to increase donations. In this article, we first provide a systematic overview of prototypical nudges that promote charitable giving. Second, we argue that plenty of the ethical objections raised against nudges, such as the exploitation of power they involve and the arguably intrusive and deceptive nature, are not specific to nudging itself. Carefully designing nudges can help to avoid these worries. Third, given that most concerns boil down to the worry that nudges infringe on people’s autonomy, we analyze when this could nevertheless be justified. We differentiate between perfect duties, imperfect duties, and supererogatory acts and argue that nudges are (a) morally permissible (even when they violate autonomy) when it comes to perfect duties and can (b) provide the best available strategy when it comes to imperfect duties. That said, we also analyze the conditions under which nudging charitable giving is impermissible.
Description
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Keywords
ALTRUISM, DONATIONS, ETHICS, autonomy, charitable giving, nudging, perfect and imperfect duties, supererogation
Citation
Von Oldenburg-Ruehle, R, Engelen, B & Archer, A 2021, 'Nudging Charitable Giving : What (If Anything) Is Wrong With It?', Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 2, 0899764020954266, pp. 353-371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764020954266