The Financial Consequences of International Organization Legitimacy: Evidence from a Global Field Experiment

International Organizations (IOs) work under considerable resource constraints. Member states are often reluctant to allocate the resources needed to ensure their vitality and fulfill their mandates. Resource constraints have recently intensified as IOs have come under pressure by governments that question 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 more than 250,000 individuals in five countries representing the biggest Facebook advertisement markets in each World region (Brazil, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom). Our study has important implications for academic debates on IOs by demonstrating how IO legitimacy shapes the real-world decision-making of citizens worldwide.