The Financial Consequences of IO Legitimacy: Evidence from a Global Experiment

• In Event: International Cooperation, Domestic Politics, and Public Opinion

Abstract

Resource constraints on international organizations (IOs) have intensified as they have come under pressure from governments questioning their legitimacy. In response, IOs increasingly aim to diversify their resource base by raising funds from non-state actors and even individual donations. However, little is known about the factors driving such donations by the public. We argue that IO legitimacy matters and differentiate between: a) procedural, b) performance-based, and c) norm-driven legitimacy. We then analyze how legitimacy shapes donations to two IOs that rely on the public for a substantial share of their resources: UNICEF, an intergovernmental organization, and Save the Children, an international non-governmental organization. We conducted a global field experiment by varying statements on these IOs’ legitimacy as part of Facebook advertisements soliciting donations from 20,769,988 individuals in five countries representing some of the biggest Facebook advertisement markets in each World region (Brazil, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom) as well as survey experiments in two of these countries (Egypt and India). Our results show that the impact of different types of legitimacy on citizens’ real-world decisions is much more heterogeneous than previously assumed.

Authors

• Jiseon Chang, Princeton University

• Mirko Heinzel

• Daniel L. Nielson, University of Texas at Austin