What Makes a Giver? Demographic, Moral, and Situational Factors in Charitable Donation: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

How do demographic, moral and situational variables interrelate in philanthropic behavior? Previous literature has explored how demographic factors – age, gender, race, income level, employment, relationship status and education level –individually impact philanthropy, or how moral or cultural issues like honesty and charitability impact donation behavior. Both in experiments and out in the world, too, situational factors are seen to predict charitability, though only some have been considered. This study contributes to the field by exploring how the factors inside and outside one’s control work together to predict an individual’s charitability. I focus on how notions of honesty, priority and situational randomness interact with demographic variables to account for differences in individuals’ charitability. Results are consistent with most literature, finding that some demographic variables are significant (most consistently so, gender) and moral and situational variables are significant predictors of pro-social behavior at the p = 0.05 level.