Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Sonya Britt / The purpose of this research study was to investigate the determinants that explain and predict Christian’s intentions to make lifetime gifts to charities. The research was guided by the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) utilizing an expanded model that anticipated Christians who have (a) a favorable attitude toward giving, (b) a perceived pressure from social norms, (c) high levels of perceived behavioral control in their ability to make gifts, (d) a positive moral responsibility toward charitable giving, (e) a history of charitable giving, and (f) a faith based spiritual desire to pursue the Christian way of life would be more inclined to have giving intentions. Survey data were obtained through two pilot studies and a main study (N = 250). The pilot study participants were recruited through the researcher’s social network. The main study participants were enlisted through a contract with Qualtrics, an online survey organization that maintains panels of likely research subjects. Hierarchical linear regression identified support for traditional and expanded models of the theory of planned behavior. In the traditional model, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, all predicted donative intent. In the expanded model, not moral norms, past behavior, and the Christian way of life predicted donating intentions; however, perceived behavioral control a significant predictor in the traditional model, did not predict donative intent. The traditional theory of planned behavior accounted for 65%, and expanded predictors added 11% to the explanation of intention to donate to non-profit organizations in the coming year. The current research has both theoretical and applied implications. Consistent with Fishbein and Ajzen’s (2010) encouragement to improve the traditional model, the expanded model enhanced the predictive ability of the theory of planned behavior with a new determinant, the Christian way of life. The current research also reaffirms the predictive ability of the previously tested factor past behavior and not moral norms. Non-profit organizations may apply these findings by targeting the salient beliefs that are foundational to all predictors of intentions. The current research has identified beliefs associated with attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, moral norms, past behavior, and the Christian way of life that offer non-profit organizations educational opportunities to intervene with donors to improve charitable behavior.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152). Also available on the Internet.

This thesis consists of three essays on the determinants of and returns to volunteering. The first essay, ‘volunteer opportunities and volunteering’ examines the relationship between physical access to charitable organizations and volunteering. Formal volunteer activities usually take place within a charitable or non-profit organization. While the physical presence of these organizations is required for citizens who want to contribute to their communities, the availability of charitable organizations (number and type) varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. Until now, no one has examined the role played by charity proximity on volunteer decisions. In this paper I use information on the location of registered charities in Canada (from the CRA T3010 registered charity returns) merged with survey information on volunteering (from General Social Surveys conducted by Statistics Canada) to examine how physical access affects volunteer behaviour. Careful attention is paid to the possibility that the measure of access might be endogenous: organizations and individuals may respond to the same unobservable factors when deciding where to locate. Various strategies including an instrumental variables procedure are undertaken to deal with this possibility. My results suggest that access does matter for the decision to volunteer as well as for the amount of time devoted to volunteering. My estimates imply that increasing the number of charitable organizations within a one-kilometre buffer around an individual’s place of residence by 6% (the growth rate of the number charities in Canada (between 2003 to 2009), increases the predicted probability of volunteering by 5%. The second essay, ‘the returns to working for free’ examines the relationship between volunteering and income. Previous studies have shown volunteering to be associated with an earnings premium, but many of these studies fail to take into account the possible endogeneity between volunteering and income. Using data from the General Social Surveys (2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2013), I investigate the causal relationship between volunteering and income. I employ a novel instrument, a measure of access to charitable organizations around an individual’s place of residence, along with more conventional ones, like membership or participation in different groups or organizations, to examine this relationship and try to understand how volunteering might affect earned income. Identifying the effect of volunteering of the different subgroups affected by the different instruments provides a (surprisingly) large range of estimates. For example estimates in the upper range found in the literature (53%) are found for individuals who are induced to volunteer because of their membership or participation in sport or recreational organizations, no returns are found for those induced to volunteer because of their membership or participation in school or civic groups, negative returns (22%) are found for those induced to volunteer because of their membership or participation in religious affiliated groups and very large (47%), but imprecise estimates are found for those induced to volunteer because of proximity to charitable organizations. The third essay, ‘doing good, feeling good: causal evidence from Canadian volunteers’ examines the relationships between volunteering and health, and volunteering and life satisfaction. A literature suggests that volunteers are healthier and happier than their non-volunteering counterparts. But this ‘observation’ is fraught with problems of endogeneity. Some papers have addressed the endogeneity problem with an instrumental variable technique; mostly relying on measures of ‘religiosity’ as instruments. However, no studies of such nature have been conducted in Canada. Using data from the General Social Surveys, I again employ the measure of physical access to charitable organizations within a three-kilometer radius of an individual’s place of residence as the main identifying instrument to examine the causal relationship between volunteering, health and life satisfaction for individuals aged 15 years old and over. Employing a conditional mixed process (CMP) to estimate the model, I conclude that volunteering is a significant predictor of health, and it has a statistically significant effect on life satisfaction for female and middle-aged individuals.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / How is charitable giving influenced by other donors’ charitable giving? Do people give more in the presence of other donors who are similar to themselves? Most research suggests that individuals are positively influenced by others who are similar across a variety of behaviors. In the charitable giving contexts, people are more likely to donate (or donate more) to the same cause if others who are similar donate. Yet, prior research has paid little attention to potential non-linear effects of similarity on charitable giving. Is there a certain amount of similarity that is too much? My dissertation investigates this research question through two different methodological approaches, a systematic literature review and an experimental study. The findings suggest the curvilinear effects of similarity on charitable giving (i.e. self-other oversimilarity hypothesis); that is, individuals are more likely to donate (and donate more) in the presence of other generous donors who are moderately similar to themselves. Yet, individuals are less likely to donate (and donate) less in the presence of other generous donors who are in high similarity to themselves. In other words, too much similarity between donors may actually backfire in charitable giving contexts when others give generously. This dissertation consists of a brief overview of similarity (Chapter 1), a systematic literature review (Chapter 2), an experimental study (Chapter 3) and a research proposal (Chapter 4). Chapter 1 in this dissertation identifies the importance of similarity in social relationships. Chapter 2 investigates the effects of similarity on charitable giving and identifies the literature gap. Chapter 3 attempts to fill the gap via developing and testing self-other oversimilarity hypothesis. It further offers practical implications for nonprofit fundraising practices on how to apply similarity between donors to motivate more funding. In order to provide additional empirical evidence that may contribute to theory and practice, and to address certain limitations of the current experimental study, Chapter 4 proposes a new research project to further test self-other oversimilarity hypothesis in the presence of a stingy donor.

Thesis (B.Sc. (Honours) in Economics)--Singapore Management University, 2004. / Senior thesis in part fulfillment for the BSc (Honours) in Economics degree presented to the School of Economics and Social Sciences, Singapore Management University 2003-2004. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-181). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Bern.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Sociology, March 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.