Gift-exchange in society and the social integration of refugees : evidence from a field, a laboratory, and a survey experiment / Sabrina Jeworrek, Bernd Josef Leisen, Vanessa Mertins

Abstract

Refugee integration needs broad support from society, but only a minority is actively engaged. Given that most individuals reciprocate kind behaviour, we examine the idea that the proportion of supporters is increasing as a reciprocal response to refugees' contributions to society through volunteering. Our nationwide survey experiment shows that the intentions to contribute time and money rise significantly when citizens learn about refugees' pro-social activities. Importantly, this result holds for individuals who have not been in contact to refugees so far. We complement this investigation by experiments in the lab and the field - which confirm our findings for actual behaviour.