Donors’ attitude towards fundraising efforts in UAE during COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of ethics

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to explore the antecedents of donors’ attitudes toward fundraising campaigns to fight COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the pandemic crisis. This manuscript identified how moderating effects of ethical dimensions can strengthen the relationship between trust in charity and charity projects with their attitude to raise funds to mitigate pandemic repercussions. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a quantitative approach by administering survey instruments to collect the data from the sample of respondents. A total of 391 responses were obtained adopting snowball sampling and analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to derive meaningful results for path analysis. Findings The findings of this study indicate that certain insights need to be considered to trigger the donors’ attitude toward raising or participating in charity-oriented campaigns, especially during pandemic situations. For instance, organizing more transformable processes in charity projects and establishing more trust factors among donors is highly essential in charity activities. Similarly, promoting ethical dimensions of the donors toward supporting the vulnerable more effectively and encouraging them to participate or organize philanthropic activities certainly benefit and support this noble cause. Practical implications This study will help the government and nonprofit organizations in devising their campaigns for raising funds. The findings of this study suggest that ethics is an important consideration and driver for donors in philanthropy-serving organizations and individuals. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on donation and philanthropic studies focusing on fundraising campaigns attitudes during COVID-19. This study contributes influential factors and attitudes of individuals and organizations toward charity and philanthropic service.

The relation between donation motivations and the meaning in life

“…When we look at the studies examining the relationship between donation and religiosity, Reitsma et al (2006) concluded that there is a positive relationship between solid religious belief and intention to donate to charity. Sarea et al (2023) found a positive relationship between religious beliefs and attitudes towards donating to pandemic relief efforts. In addition, Abreu et al.…”

Intentions and donations: monetary charity in Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…via web links, kiosks and physical booths located in shopping malls and residential areas. Therefore, COs' strategies should continue to evolve and provide up-to-date methods for such money transfers both online and offline which is similar to other Muslim countries (Sarea et al , 2022; Kasri and Yuniar, 2021). Second, as MN were also found to have a significant and positive relationship with behavioral intentions, we recommend that campaigns should continue to focus on people’s moral responsibility toward Islam.…”

“…When referring to Muslim charities, there has been a decline in their income before COVID-19 because of mismanagement and scandals of charities (Gündoğdu, 2019). As a result of the mismanagement that has plagued Islamic donations, the trust of donors has declined (Abd Jalil et al , 2019) although authors identify trust as a highly essential charity activity in the United Arab Emirates (Sarea et al , 2022). Thus, there is a clear trend in which donors prefer to use their means when distributing charity because of mistrust of organizations (Kashif et al , 2018).…”