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Identity motives in charitable giving: Explanations for charity preferences from a global donor survey
Author(s) -
Chapman Cassandra M.,
Masser Barbara M.,
Louis Winnifred R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.21362
Subject(s) - beneficiary , identity (music) , social identity theory , social psychology , relation (database) , psychology , theme (computing) , sociology , social group , political science , law , physics , database , acoustics , computer science , operating system
Millions of charities compete for donor dollars, yet why people prefer to give to particular charities remains poorly understood. Informed by the social identity approach, and using mixed methods, we analyzed open‐ended responses from a global donor survey ( N = 1,849 from 117 countries) to understand why participants see their favorite charity as important, and how identities influence charity preferences. Nine subthemes were generated under two overarching themes: Self and Other. Theme prevalence and charity category were not independent: donors were more likely to explain giving to religious and research charities in relation to the self, but to explain giving to social service, animal, or international charities in relation to the other. We also present an inventory of the identities that consumers use to inform their giving. Together, findings show the importance of identities in charitable giving and demonstrate how consumer motives depend on the cause or beneficiary.