Dissertation Research: Unreciprocated Giving: Do Theories of Indirect Reciprocity or Generous Reputation Signaling Play a Role in Philanthropic Donations?

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the dissertation research of an anthropologist examining how an individual's reputation, social prestige, social support network, and perceived financial stability influence decisions of whether or not to make charitable contributions and how much to donate. Charitable donations are one of the most important sources of funding for public assistance and service institutions; yet we do not know how well theories for why people contribute to public goods explain variation in who donates to charities and in what circumstances. This research collects data on New Mexicans' voluntary donations of time and resources to charities to evaluate recently proposed theories that argue a donor gains social benefits and favorable attention by earning a reputation for generosity. The research employs private face-to-face interviews to collect retrospective cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data on the charitable donation behaviors and life histories of individuals and households. The results of this research will be of wide scholarly interest across several disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, economics, and psychology. Broader impacts: By increasing our understanding of human generosity, this research also serves an important social goal in counteracting the pessimism of social science theories that paint individuals as solely self-interested and selfish actors. The new knowledge from this study will be useful to decision makers and planners to help them develop policies to promote desirable pro-social behaviors. Finally, the research contributes to the training of a young social scientist.