Economic self-interest and other motivational factors underlying charitable giving

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

“…Specifically, social exchange theory would suggest that materialistic people donate to receive some gratification, pleasure, satisfaction (Thibaut and Kelley 1959), or some form of social power (Homans 1958;Emerson 1976), which is consistent with the argument that ''charitable contributions may be motivated by givers' self-interest'' (Mathur 1996, p. 108;Pitt and Skelly 1984). In examining charitable giving for older adults, Mathur (1996) proposes individuals would engage in charitable activities when the outcome or benefit of that activity is at least equal to the cost of the activity.…”

Generosity and Philanthropy: A Literature Review

“…An exception to this pattern is reported by Pitts and Skelly (1984). However, differences between volunteers and non-volunteers often vanish in multiple regression analyses controlling for joint determinants of giving and volunteering (Bekkers 2002;Wiepking & Maas 2006).…”

“…Survey studies have consistently found a negative relation between the size of congregations and religious contributions (Davidson & Pyle 1994;Hungerman 2005;Olson & Caddell 1994;Stonebraker 2003;. While donors often deny the importance of social pressure (Polonsky et al 2002), survey studies have found that donations are rather strongly related to measures of social pressure (Bekkers & Schuyt 2005;Mathur 1996;Pitts & Skelly 1984;Smith & McSweeney 2007).…”

“…Marriage is mostly found to be positively related to giving (Andreoni & Scholz 1998;Auten et al 1992;Auten & Rudney 1990;Barrett 1991;Brooks 2005;Brown & Ferris 2007;Chang 2005a;Choe & Jeong 1993;Duquette 1999;Eaton 2001;Eschholz & Van Slyke 2002;Feenberg 1987;Feldman 2007;Feldstein & Taylor 1976;Frey & Meier 2004a;Hrung 2004;Jencks 1987;Lankford & Wyckoff 1991;Long 2000;Matsunaga 2006;O"Neill et al 1996;Pitts & Skelly 1984;Randoph 1995;Reed & Selbee 2002;Regnerus et al 1998;Rooney et al 2005;Rooney et al 2001;Slemrod 1989;Tiehen 2001;Van Slyke & Brooks 2005;Wilhelm et al 2006;Wu et al 2004). However, a sizeable number of other studies find no relationship of marital status with giving (Apinunmahakul & Devlin 2004;Bielefeld et al 2005;Brooks 2002;Bryant et al 2003;Carroll et al 2006;Clotfelter 1980;Hodgkinson & Weitzman 1996;Houston 2006;Jones & Posnett 1991a;…”

Who gives? A literature review of predictors of charitable giving. Part Two: Gender, family composition and income

“…Examining donations to a local United Way, Pitts and Skelly (1984) found that single people were less likely to donate and donate lower amounts than those who were married. Regnerus et al (1998) found that married people in the US were more likely to give to organisations supporting the poor and the needy.…”