Not All Empathy Is Equal: How Dispositional Empathy Affects Charitable Giving

Motivations for prosocial behavior have been explored in diverse ways. Empirical research suggests that empathy is an important motive for prosocial behavior. Building upon previous studies, in this article the authors hypothesize that charitable giving is distinctively affected by different components of dispositional empathy, including empathic concern, perspective taking, and personal distress. Using the 2008–2009 wave of American National Election Studies data set, this study examines the impact of these three components of dispositional empathy on probability and amount of giving to various charitable causes. The results support the authors’ hypotheses that the three components of dispositional empathy are associated with charitable giving in different ways. In particular, empathic concern consistently stimulates the likelihood and amount of giving. The effects of perspective taking and personal distress are mixed. The results offer several direct implications for fundraisers and nonprofit organizations in crafting effective fundraising appeals.     

An Investigation of the Characteristics of Australian Charitable Donors

Ads using a range of emotional appeals have been used in different donation campaigns, but, if not managed well, can evoke anger and irritation and as a result alienate potential donors. An understanding of the key donors’ demographics, psychographics, and perception of charities can then help build a better advertising campaign toward donation intention. This research therefore aims to investigate this proposition by building and extending on previous research on an Australian sample. The sample was randomly drawn from the Australian White Pages, and identified respondents were mailed a self-administered survey. Results showed that donors are likely to be older and less highly educated. Religiosity was found to have low influence on charitable donations. Australian donors were also more likely to have positive attitudes toward international charities as opposed to national charities. Further research should focus on cross-country comparisons of donor characteristics to provide a more holistic perspective on donor behavior and thus assist managerial decisions in the marketing of charities.     

Factors Influencing Monetary Donations to Charitable Organizations

ABSTRACT

Charitable organizations are under increasing financial pressure to attract and retain private donors. However, research examining consumer attitudes toward and motivations for giving to charity have yielded ambiguous results. A cross-disciplinary literature review suggests individual donation behavior is based on several factors including attitudes toward helping others, attitudes toward the charitable organization and various intrapersonal, social and economic motives. Using exploratory factor analysis seven factors are identified which influence monetary donations to charitable organizations. Of these seven factors, two factors measure attitudes relevant to charitable giving and five factors capture motivations for charitable giving. These measures are important to academicians, policy makers and practitioners in the development of theory and marketing strategy.     

A comparison of Korean and American gift-giving behaviors

In an effort to understand diverse, multicultural consumer behavior, this study compares Korean and American gift-giving behavior and its related values. This study aims to illustrate how gift-giving behavior works and differs across cultural values; specifically, in the Confucian collectivistic nature of the Far East, Korea, and the individualistic nature of the West, America. Focus groups and in-depth interviews are conducted for initial issue exploration, and mail surveys are then utilized for testing the proposed hypotheses. Results reveal Confucian collectivistic and individualistic values as significant in explaining differences in cross-cultural gift giving. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Is it better to give than to receive? Exploring gender differences in the meaning of memorable gifts

Research on gift-exchange behavior has generally found that women are more concerned and involved with giving gifts than are men. Moreover, the consumer behavior literature has focused almost exclusively on gift-giving behavior, offering few insights regarding gift-receiving roles. As an initial step toward understanding gift receiving, 89 men and 85 women from the United States (n = 124) and Europe n = 50) completed written narratives regarding their most memorable gift experiences. An interpretive analysis of the texts uncovered several themes associated with giving and/or receiving gifts, and correspondence analyses generated distinct gift-receiving and gift-giving profiles for men and women. Surprisingly, given the more prominent role of women in gift giving, four of the five female profiles involved memories of receiving rather than giving gifts. It was the men that tended to report gift-giving experiences; two of the three male profiles that emerged involved giving gifts. The texts then were reexamined and further interpreted to acquire a deeper understanding of each profile and how giving and receiving profiles of both men and women might be related to one another. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Encouraging Consumer Charitable Behavior: The Impact of Charitable Motivations,Gratitude, and Materialism

The United States is one of the most charitable nations, yet comprises some of the most materialistic citizens in the world. Interestingly, little is known about how the consumer trait of materialism, as well as the opposing moral trait of gratitude, influences charitable giving. We address this gap in the literature by theorizing and empirically testing that the effects of these consumer traits on charitable behavior can be explained by diverse motivations. We discuss the theoretical implications, along with implications for charitable organizations, and offer suggestions for future research.     

How to give and receive: An exploratory study of charitable hybrids

Most charitable organizations can only rely on appeals to purely philanthropic motivations in attempting to solicit donor contributions. The decision processes exhibited by the targets of charitable solicitations are very different from those the same individuals use in making daily purchase decisions. Although both charitable giving and purchase contexts have been studied extensively, there are numerous organizations that require targeted customers to use a decision process that merges elements of both domains. Charitable hybrids, such as museums and universities, are such organizations, supplementing traditional revenue streams by soliciting charitable contributions, thus evoking a complex consumer decision process. For these firms, giving good service may yield an added benefit of maximizing charitable contributions received. Drawing on both the services and charitable giving literatures, a model of the consumer decision process is developed in this hybrid situation. In an exploratory test of the model, initial evidence is found that both classes of effects have significant influence on donors' intentions to give. However, in charitable giving contexts, organizational identification appears to fill a central role in influencing decision outcomes, which diminishes the role of satisfaction. The findings provide provocative evidence that further research in this setting is warranted. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Are people less generous after a family member gives to charity? The interaction of self-construal and relationship type

Extant research shows that people become more generous after learning about the charitable giving of in-group members (e.g., family or friends). The present research demonstrates an exception: While a friend’s donation increases both the interdependents’ and the independents’ charitable giving, a family member’s donation decreases the interdependents’ but increases the independents’ charitable giving. Six studies, including a field experiment and an online survey that captures historical behavior, provide converging evidence in support of an interaction effect of consumers’ self-construal and their relationship type with previous donors on their generosity, showing that the interdependents become less generous after a family member (vs friend) donates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the interaction effect is driven by the perception of shared responsibility and that this interaction effect is weakened when consumers’ personal responsibility is enhanced or when the donation currency is time rather than money. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the work are discussed.     

Women on Corporate Boards of Directors and their Influence on Corporate Philanthropy

This study examined the relationship between the proportion of women serving on firms' boards of directors and the extent to which these same firms engaged in charitable giving activities. Using a sample of 185 Fortune500 firms for the 1991–1994 time period, the results provide strong support for the notion that firms having a higher proportion of women serving on their boards do engage in charitable giving to a greater extent than firms having a lower proportion of women serving on their boards. Further, the results suggest a link between the percentage of women on boards and firm philanthropy in the areas of community service and the arts, but found no link between women boardmembers and firm giving to support education or public policy issues. The implications of the findings and some areas for future research are discussed.     

Retail Philanthropy: Firm Size,Industry, and Business Cycle

This article investigates the effects of firm size, profitability, industry affiliation, and the business cycle on retailer philanthropy. The importance of industry and firm effects on giving was analyzed with regression models using industry-fixed effects as well as firm strategy variables. The analysis included instrumental variables methodology to account for simultaneity in the charitable giving–profits relationship. Data were gathered from the IRS Corporate Statistics of Income Sourcebook, data that provide firm size class measures covering the entire firm size distribution ranging from small retailers up to large multi-national retail firms. Retailer philanthropy was measured as the ratio of charitable contributions to total receipts. Important findings include a cubic relationship between retailer philanthropy and firm size; industry effects stronger than those observed for retail profit; and the absence of business cycle effects. The empirical research relating retail charitable giving to firm attributes including firm size and advertising, industry and business cycle factors are unique in the business ethics literature. Prior studies regarding the importance of industry on charitable giving utilized data across broad sectors of the economy. Firms from different sectors could be expected to differ in philanthropic approach due to differences in public contact as well as differences in public relations exposure. The strong industry effects reported for this sample of exclusively retail firms, with similar public contact, provide strong evidence for the importance of industry in determining firms’ charitable strategies.     

How companies use typeface design to engage consumers in charitable activities

This research examines how the typeface design in a charitable appeal affects consumers' evaluations of the ad and, in turn, their willingness to engage in the advertised charitable activities. We propose that the typeface's simulation of a handwritten note creates a sense of connectedness to the information sender (e.g., organization, brand), which subsequently increases consumers' willingness to engage in the advertised charitable activities. Six experiments, including laboratory and field studies, provide support for the typeface effect and further support the underlying process by (1) directly examining connectedness, and (2) manipulating brand attachment, showing that a handwritten typeface creates a more positive effect when the viewer is not strongly connected to the brand (vs. having a strong brand attachment). Our findings provide useful guidelines for brand managers, social marketers and charity fundraisers regarding how and when to use a handwritten typeface design.     

Does Vice Make Nice? The Viability and Virtuousness of Charity Lotteries

ABSTRACT

Globally, charities are under increasing pressure to find alternative sources of funding. Although charitable gaming has long been considered a viable source of revenue for charities, opponents of gaming have raised concerns about the potential negative consequences associated with gambling. The current paper examines a unique form of charity gaming–the charity super lottery (CSL)–that offers a number of fund-raising benefits to cash-strapped charities. Results from a preliminary study of CSL ticket buyers suggest that the CSL may be both a virtuous and viable source of fundraising. Interviews revealed that CSL consumers (1) viewed the ticket purchase as a donation rather than gambling, (2) were unlikely to be involved in other forms of gambling, and finally (3) perceived the CSL purchase as a complementary rather than supplementary form of charity support behavior. Implications for the fundraisers of charitable organizations and directions for future research are discussed.     

How personal nostalgia influences giving to charity

Personal nostalgia provides an emotionally engaging means for bonding a donor to a nonprofit organization. Yet, little is known about the relationship between personal nostalgia and charitable giving; this research seeks to fill this gap. A review of the extant literature is integrated with the findings from thirteen focus groups (Study 1) to develop a conceptual model. This model is tested in Studies 2 (using 457 older public television donors) and 3 (with a broader sample of 502 donors) using structural equations modeling. The findings indicate that discontinuity, recovery from grief, and loneliness, along with previous life experiences influence the level of personal nostalgia felt by a donor and associated with a charitable organization. This personal nostalgia provides emotional and familial utility to the donor. The research establishes that the effect of personal nostalgia on the donor's commitment is mediated by the emotional and familial utility that the nostalgia generates.     

Trust,Commitment, and Older Women: Exploring Brand Attachment Differences in the Elderly Segment

Understanding older adults’ product consumption behavior is of high importance to consumer and marketing research. Prior studies have mainly focused on older adults’ cognitive decline and compared their behavior to that of younger consumers. A neglected area of research has been older consumers’ brand attachment that is associated with potential differences between consumers in their fifties and in their seventies. In this article, the authors provide insights into the under‐researched field of elderly women's brand attachment. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, a shift toward emotional aspects in brand relationships is proposed. A model involving trust and commitment processes is developed and empirically tested in a survey among 341 older women. Moderator analyses reveal significant differences between the “younger elderly” and the “older elderly” in relationships among self‐concept connection, partner quality, trust, and commitment. For the younger elderly, how a brand is (based on trust judgments) seems to be more important. For the older elderly, what a brand does in its role as relationship partner becomes more relevant.     

Charitable donations by the self-employed

This article analyzes an important aspect of the social behavior of the self-employed in America. We ask whether the self-employed express their social responsibility to society by giving more to charity than the general population, and if so which charitable causes they give to. We use social identity theory to generate hypotheses about the determinants and objectives of charitable giving among members of this socially and economically important group. Testing these hypotheses with nationally representative, longitudinal US data, we find that the American self-employed are indeed more likely to exhibit social responsibility toward their community by giving to charities than the general population. While the self-employed support broadly similar charities to the general population, they give substantially more to organizations which: address issues in the local community; provide health care; and serve the needy. We trace out implications of our findings for scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers.     

Is a gift on sale “heart-discounted”? Givers’ misprediction on the value of discounted gifts and the influence of service robots

The main purpose of this research is to investigate whether, why, and when givers and recipients perceive the value of a discounted gift differently. The studies provide convergent evidence that givers perceive discounted gifts as less valuable than regular-priced gifts whereas recipients do not perceive them as different. Givers' devaluation of the discounted gift is driven by their concern about the thoughtfulness of a gift. Moreover, the giver-recipient asymmetry is mitigated when the in-store interaction with a salesperson is substituted by technology via a service robot. This research contributes to the gift-giving literature and the growing literature on service robots by revealing how promotional offers influence consumers’ evaluation of gifts and how technological advance in retail may affect the proposed effect. Managerial implications for planning and executing price promotions for gifts are also discussed.     

Consumer Behavior in Later Life: Current Knowledge,Issues, and New Directions for Research

The aging of the Earth's populations has been creating increasing interest in older consumers among researchers, marketers, and policymakers. Yet previous research efforts have produced little knowledge to help explain consumer behavior in later life. The main reason for this limited knowledge may be a lack of theoretical and methodological bases for studying the consumption patterns of older generations. This article advocates the value of emergent paradigms and methods that are becoming increasingly popular in behavioral sciences and hold promise for studying the consumer behavior of older adults. It particularly recommends approaches that emphasize the importance of examining consumers in the context of the time and life circumstances in which they are embedded, and it builds a research agenda to help address contemporary research issues and guide further research.     

Guilt appeals: The mediating effect of responsibility

This research was conducted to assess how guilt appeals operate in soliciting charitable donations. It was hypothesized that a sense of responsibility would enhance the effectiveness of charitable guilt appeals, thus leading to larger charitable donations. It was also hypothesized that the presence of others would make salient a prosocial norm, thus increasing a sense of responsibility to help. Two laboratory experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. The effect of guilt on charitable‐donation intention and actual donations was mediated by a sense of responsibility. Additionally, the presence of others enhanced the sense of responsibility to behave prosocially. These findings have implications for the design of charitable‐donation campaigns. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new look at ethics in international business

In many countries there are stated rules that gift-giving and solicitation in business practice are unethical and prohibited. However, except for the American FCPA, all the rules and guidelines seem to govern only domestic business practices and there are no clear-cut rules for international business practices in this respect. This study investigates gift-giving and solicitation in international business practice, using the data collected from 111 New Zealand international business firms. The research findings show variable conduct and contradictory attitudes. These findings suggest that, with the variety of ethical standards and levels of morality which exist in different cultures, neither Deontology nor Utilitarianism could be the answer to the dilemma of ethics and pragmatism that faces today's international business managers. Instead, “Culturalism,” as developed in this study, should be the guiding principle to international business ethics.     

党组织参与治理对上市公司慈善捐赠的影响

利用我国A股非金融类上市公司2008—2017年数据,采用“双向进入”、“交叉任职”两个指标衡量党组织参与企业治理的情况,实证检验其对企业慈善捐赠行为的影响。结果发现,党组织“双向进入”和“交叉任职”与企业是否捐赠、捐赠水平均呈显著正向关系。此外,上述作用在国有企业与非国有企业中均存在,但与中央国有企业相比,党组织参与治理对企业捐赠的促进效应在地方国有企业中更为明显。研究还发现,党组织参与治理对企业慈善捐赠的促进作用并不以损害企业价值为代价,反而会提高公司经营绩效和价值,并且党组织参与治理对企业捐赠的促进作用并非以获取更多的政府补贴为目的。研究表明,党组织参与治理促进了企业的捐赠行为,这一结论有助于进一步理解党组织在公司治理中的地位与作用。