Abstract
Organizations interested in supporting matters of diversity and equity need guidance on whether to be transparent about their equity-focused initiatives and appeal to users’ sense of social justice. This paper explores how information transparency affects backer responses to equity-related initiatives. The educational crowdfunding platform DonorsChoose launched an “equity-focused” initiative to highlight the platform’s commitment to equity in education and encourage donations towards that cause. Using an observational analysis and an experimental study, I found evidence that information transparency, i.e., explicitly promoting equity-focused projects, dampens overall donations because any change in donations associated with the equity-focused initiatives is insufficient to offset the decrease in other donations. However, I found evidence that distant donors are more responsive to equity-focused recommendations, consistent with the hypothesis that a holistic mindset moderates the effectiveness of promoting equity-focused initiatives. This study provides insight into the trade-offs associated with information transparency for equity-related initiatives and the complicated relationship between organizations and equity-related initiatives.
Recommended Citation
Rhue, Lauren
(2025)
"The Trade-Offs in Promoting Equity-Focused Initiatives in Crowdfunding,"
Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 26(2), 484-505.
DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00916
Available at:
https://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol26/iss2/3
DOI
10.17705/1jais.00916
When commenting on articles, please be friendly, welcoming, respectful and abide by the AIS eLibrary Discussion Thread Code of Conduct posted here.
