Warm-Glow Versus Cold-Prickle : A Further Experimental Study of Framing Effects on Free-Riding

This paper examines the effects of positive and negative framing on cooperation in voluntary public goods provision experiments in which subjects have different value orientations. The major finding of this experiment is that while there is a significant difference between the two framing conditions in terms of overall contribution rates, there is no significant difference for some subjects. In particular, the data strongly suggest that the negative framing has a most salient effect on the subjects who have individualistic value orientation, whereas the negative framing has a rather insignificant effect on the subjects who have cooperative value orientation. This suggests that at least for some group, the behavioral asymmetry between the warm-glow of doing something good and cold-prickle of doing something bad may not be as significant as in the previous study of (1995). Keyword(s): Public goods experiment; Free riding; Framing effects; Value orientations