In order to better identify and understand the differences between Japanese and English, the task of giving walking directions was used. Japanese and American public facilities (10 each) were randomly chosen from which to collect data over the phone in order to examine these differences based on the following five communication styles: 1) politeness, 2) indirectness, 3) self-effacement, 4) back-channel feedback (Aizuchi), 5) and other linguistic and cognitive differences in relation to space and giving directions. The study confirmed what the author reviewed in the literature: Japanese are more polite, English speakers tend to give directions simply and precisely, Japanese prefer pictorial information and most Americans prefer linguistic information, Japanese is a topic-oriented language and also an addressee-oriented language. The information revealed from this study will help Japanese learners develop important skills needed for developing proficiency in the target language and also teach important differences between the two languages.

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Att bidra till välgörenhet sträcker sig flera århundraden tillbaka i tiden.  Världen står än i dag inför stora utmaningar som humanitära kriser, klimatförändringar och politiska konflikter, som kan behöva stöd i form av bidrag när  statliga medel inte räcker till. Här spelar välgörenhetsorganisationerna en viktig roll. Många av välgörenhetsorganisationerna är etablerade i dagens digitalisering, vilket också ökar konkurrensen om det digitala givandet från användarna.  Syftet med studien var att ta reda på vad som engagerar användare till att bidra digitalt till välgörenhet, samt identifiera vilka nyckelfaktorer som är viktiga för engagemanget i interaktionen med digitala välgörenhetstjänster.  Studien utfördes i samarbete med en etablerad svensk välgörenhetsorganisation och inkluderade användning av deras tjänst Gåvoshopen i den kvalitativa undersökningen. Välgörenhetsorganisationen riktar sig främst till individer som behöver humanitärt stöd. Genom kvalitativa metoder har semistrukturerade intervjuer utförts tillsammans med användartester av en tjänst för digitalt givande. Eftersom välgörenhet i sig inte är en tjänst utan ett beteende, har studiens arbete inspirerats av det teoretiska ramverket Theory of planned behavior, och kopplat den empiriska datan till teorins tre faktorer, attityd till beteende, subjektiva normer och uppfattad beteendekontroll.  Resultaten visade att visuella element så som bilder, textinnehåll och färg, hade en stor inverkan på empatin hos användarna. Designelement som är viktiga nyckelfaktorer till digitalt givande. Navigering och struktur på webbplatsen visade tydliga resultat över hur användarupplevelsen uppfattades, vilket i sin tur gav indikationer på om användarna ville fullfölja sitt digitala givande. Genom studiens resultat har rekommendationer för nya designprinciper tagits fram som kan inspirera andra välgörenhetsorganisationer i deras arbete att öka det digitala givandet från användarna. / Contributing to charity dates back several centuries. The world still faces significant challenges today, such as humanitarian crises, climate change, and political conflicts, which may require support in the form of donations when government funds are insufficient. This is where charitable organizations play an important role. A large part of charitable organizations are established in today's digitalization, which also increases competition for digital donations from users. The purpose of this study was to find out what engages users to contribute digitally to charity and identify the key factors that are important for engagement in interaction with digital charity services.  The study collaborated with a well-established Swedish charity organization that primarily focuses on individuals needing humanitarian support. The study performed a qualitative study by conducting user tests on one of their services that they offer on their website.  Through qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews were conducted along with user tests of a digital donation service. Since charity itself is not a service but a behavior, the study was inspired by the theoretical framework Theory of Planned Behavior and connected the empirical data to the theory's three factors: attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.  The results showed that visual elements such as images, text content, and color had a significant impact on users' empathy. Design elements that are important key factors for digital giving. Navigation and structure on the website showed clear results on how the user experience was perceived, providing indications on whether users wanted to complete their digital donation. Through the study's results, recommendations for new design principles have been developed that can inspire other charitable organizations in their efforts to increase digital donations from users."

In der ersten Abhandlung untersuche ich die Auswirkungen von Informationsfriktionen und Aufwandskosten auf die Effektivität von Steuervergünstigungen bei der Förderung von Spenden für wohltätige Zwecke. Mittels eines groß angelegten Umfrageexperiments und einem Feldexperiment prüfe ich empirisch, ob die Verringerung von Informationsfriktionen durch Hervorhebung von Steuervergünstigungen und Bereitstellung von Informationen über die Höhe von Steuervergünstigungen Spendenentscheidungen verändert. Meine Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Spenden steigen, wenn Steuervergünstigungen hervorgehoben und Informationen bereitgestellt werden. Ich lege dar, dass der Hauptverhaltensmechanismus, der Informationsfriktionen zugrunde liegt, Unaufmerksamkeit ist. Die zweite Abhandlung ist eine gemeinsame Arbeit mit Steffen Altmann, Armin Falk, Paul Heidhues und Rajshri Jayaraman. In dieser Arbeit untersuchen wir die Auswirkungen von voreingestellten Beträgen auf Spenden für wohltätige Zwecke in einem groß angelegten Feldversuch auf einer Online-Spendenplattform. Wir beobachten eine starke Auswirkung von voreingestellten Beträgen auf das individuelle Verhalten, stellen jedoch fest, dass die Gesamtspende nicht von voreingestellten Beträgen beeinflusst wird. Mit einem Strukturmodell wird untersucht ob die Personalisierung von voreingestellten Beträgen die Spendeneinnahmen erhöhen kann. In der dritten Abhandlung, die in Zusammenarbeit mit Rajshri Jayaraman und Michael Kaiser verfasst wurde, untersuchen wir gemeinnützige Spenden für Naturkatastrophen auf einer großen Online-Plattform. Wir beobachten, dass der Großteil der Spenden für wohltätige Zwecke an einen winzigen Teil der Naturkatastrophen geht, bei denen es sich in der Regel um besonders schwere Katastrophen handelt, über die in den Medien berichtet wird. Unter Verwendung eines Ereignisstudiendesigns finden wir Hinweise, die mit zwei Erscheinungsformen der Spenderermüdung übereinstimmen, jedoch nicht mit einer dritten. / In the first essay, I study the implications of information frictions and hassle costs for the effectiveness of tax incentives in encouraging charitable giving. Empirically, I test whether mitigating information frictions by making tax incentives more salient and by providing information on the magnitude of tax incentives alters donation decisions by conducting a large-scale survey experiment, representative of the German adult population and I complement this with a large-scale field experiment on an online donation platform. My findings indicate that when tax incentives are made salient, and when information is provided, donations increase. I find that the main behavioral mechanism underlying information frictions is inattention. Analyzing who responds more to salience and information provision shows that it is predominantly individuals that face lower hassle costs and have high incomes. The second essay is joint work with Steffen Altmann, Armin Falk, Paul Heidhues, and Rajshri Jayaraman. In this paper, we study the effects of defaults on charitable giving in a large-scale field experiment on an online fundraising platform. We document a strong effect of defaults on individual behavior but nevertheless find that aggregate donation levels are unaffected by defaults. In contrast, co-donations increase in the default amount. We complement our experimental results with a structural model that investigates whether personalizing defaults based on individuals’ donation histories can increase donation revenues. In the third essay, which is joint work with Rajshri Jayaraman and Michael Kaiser, we investigate charitable donations to natural disasters on a large online platform. We document that the bulk of charitable donations go to a tiny fraction of natural disasters, which tend to be severe disasters that receive media coverage. Using an event study design, we find evidence consistent with temporal fatigue and donor fatigue, but not with crowding out.

Diese Dissertation untersucht das Ausmaß der Spendenbereitschaft für Flüchtlinge und dessen individuelle sowie kontextuelle Korrelate unter einheimischen Deutschen zwischen Jahren 2015 und 2018. Die Dissertation enthält drei originäre empirische Beiträge. Im ersten empirischen Beitrag wird das Ausmaß des Spendenverhaltens für Flüchtlinge, seine regionale Variation und Veränderung im Zeitverlauf beschrieben. Das Kapitel beschreibt, wie Einstellungen und soziodemografische Merkmale mit Spenden für Flüchtlinge zusammenhängen. Ich stelle fest, dass die Spenden für Flüchtlinge besonders hoch waren bei Frauen, Menschen mit einer höheren sozioökonomischen Position und Personen mit einer positiven Einstellung zur Einwanderung. Im zweiten und dritten empirischen Beitrag werden mögliche kontextuelle korrelate für solche Spenden betrachtet. Dies wird erreicht durch die Kombination von individuellen Panelerhebungsdaten mit Sozialindikatoren auf Stadtteilebene. Die zweite empirische Studie prüft, ob das Geben an mit der Anwesenheit von Ausländern im Wohnumfeld korreliert ist. Umgebung korreliert. Es gibt keine robusten Beweise dafür, dass die Anwesenheit von verschiedenen Gruppen von Ausländern negativ mit Spenden für Flüchtlinge verbunden ist. Im letzten empirischen Kapitel wird untersucht, ob die ethnische Segregation auf Stadtebene und der Wohnsitz in den Clustern der Einheimischen negativ mit Spenden für Flüchtlinge verbunden ist. Einerseits wird manchmal eine negative Korrelation zwischen der Segregation auf Stadtebene und Spenden für Flüchtlinge festgestellt. Es gibt jedoch keine Hinweise darauf, dass Einheimische die in den Clustern der Einheimischen leben, weniger wahrscheinlich Flüchtlinge unterstützen. / This doctoral thesis analyzes extent of charitable giving to refugees and its individual as well as contextual correlates among native Germans between years 2015 and 2018. Dissertation contains three original empirical contributions. In the first empirical contribution the extent of charitable giving to refugees, its regional variation and change over time is described. Chapter describes how attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics are correlated with giving to refugees. I find that giving to refugees was especially high among females, people of higher socio-economic position and those holding positive attitude towards immigration. In the second and third empirical contributions possible environmental correlates of such giving are considered. This is achieved by combining panel survey data with fine-grained neighborhood level social indicators. Second empirical study tests if giving to refugees is correlated with presence of foreigners in the residential environment. There is lack of robust evidence that presence of various foreigner groups is negatively associated with giving to refugees. Final empirical chapter investigates if city-level ethnic segregation and residing in the clusters of natives is negatively associated with donating to refugees. On the one hand, negative correlation between city-level segregation and giving to refugees is sometimes found. There is, however, no evidence that natives living in the clusters of natives are less likely to support refugees with their donations.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of philanthropic interventions in public high schools in Mutasa district of Zimbabwe. Three research questions guided the study. The investigation focused on finding out the types of philanthropic interventions in the public high school and to evaluate their impact on the schools and students involved from an educational management perspective. The investigation was a mixed methods research using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected by questionnaire, interview and documentary sources. Principals of twenty nine high schools responded to a questionnaire. Interview data was gathered from two representatives of non-governmental organisations. One NGO also provided documents for more data. Two individual philanthropists from the district were also interviewed. The results of the study indicate that philanthropic interventions have made significant improvements to the physical infrastructure of some schools. During the 2014 study there were about 700 students from poor backgrounds on various school fees assistance programmes. School enrolment and completion rates have increased. School drop-outs have decreased. Over 6 500 former beneficiaries of fees from one donor organisation have formed an alumni association to assist other children in disadvantaged circumstances. It is strongly recommended that schools in the district and elsewhere use online social network platforms to organise alumni associations from a wider catchment area beyond national borders. Alumni associations are a potentially rich source of philanthropic revenue hardly tapped in the district. Schools should create their own websites to be exposed to a global audience of donors for possible funding of their projects. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of philanthropic interventions in public high schools in Mutasa district of Zimbabwe. Three research questions guided the study. The investigation focused on finding out the types of philanthropic interventions in the public high school and to evaluate their impact on the schools and students involved from an educational management perspective. The investigation was a mixed methods research using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected by questionnaire, interview and documentary sources. Principals of twenty nine high schools responded to a questionnaire. Interview data was gathered from two representatives of non-governmental organisations. One NGO also provided documents for more data. Two individual philanthropists from the district were also interviewed. The results of the study indicate that philanthropic interventions have made significant improvements to the physical infrastructure of some schools. During the 2014 study there were about 700 students from poor backgrounds on various school fees assistance programmes. School enrolment and completion rates have increased. School drop-outs have decreased. Over 6 500 former beneficiaries of fees from one donor organisation have formed an alumni association to assist other children in disadvantaged circumstances. It is strongly recommended that schools in the district and elsewhere use online social network platforms to organise alumni associations from a wider catchment area beyond national borders. Alumni associations are a potentially rich source of philanthropic revenue hardly tapped in the district. Schools should create their own websites to be exposed to a global audience of donors for possible funding of their projects. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)