City Research Online

Abstract

Individual donations constitute a major resource for charitable organisations. Understanding the key motives and mechanisms that lie behind individual giving is therefore crucial for the development and sustainability of the philanthropic sector.

This study seeks to identify intrinsic and extrinsic determinants that may influence individual donating behaviour. It explores the influence of Islamic faith and prescriptions on determinants influencing charity giving in the context of a Muslim country such as the State of Qatar. Supporting this endeavour it develops a draft model reflecting on the individual giving behaviour processes and generates, develops, validates and tests scale items to measure the determinants influencing individual donating behaviour. In so doing, the study seeks to respond to the need for a more culturally and theologically nuanced understanding of the motives and practice of giving behaviour from an Islamic perspective.

An extensive literature review was conducted to study the determinants influencing charitable giving of individuals in the contemporary literature together with the development of a reflection on these determinants from an Islamic perspective.

This research adopts mixed, quantitative and qualitative approach in exploring the determination of the antecedents influencing donating behaviour and the development of an Islamic giving behaviour scale that reflects and measures these antecedents.

Expert reviews were used to assess individually and collectively the validity of the draft scale items. Focus group discussion was employed to examine the clarity of the developed scale items. An individually targeted questionnaire was used to obtain data directly from individual donors and to measure and assess the influence of antecedents on the donating behaviour of these individuals.

Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity by examining the relationships among variables. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm to what extent the model fits the data. Triangulation was used to support the validity.

Fifteen antecedents were found to be relevant in influencing donating behaviour within the context of the State of Qatar.

The study demonstrates that the determinants most influencing individual giving behaviour in the context of a Muslim country such as the State of Qatar context have a distinct nature and meaning that is drawn directly from Muslim culture. Their definitions, nature and dimensions may differ from what is explained by previous studies, particularly studies defined in the non-Islamic literature. The results achieved therefore provide a comprehensive alternative to our current understanding of the motivations and individual giving behaviours that characterise charitable giving in the context of a Muslim country such as the state of Qatar.

A new draft model of individual donating behaviour that focuses on Islamic charitable giving is proposed. This draft model incorporates the ‘intention' construct as a potentially important intermediate variable impacting on Islamic giving behaviour. The presence of the new "intention" construct in the mind of the potential Islamic donor serves as a stronger directional signpost for the intention to donate, and directly influences individual's motivating factors.

A variety of significant predictors have been found for individual donating behaviour, including religiosity; altruism, empathy, trustworthiness, and others. This study demonstrates that, compared to previous western constructs of individual giving, reputation, commitment, and solicitation are not statistically significant in determining individual giving behaviour. The final draft model is of a good fit and can be operationalised effectively.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management Doctoral Theses

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