Self-interested motivations of charitable giving: an exploratory analysis

For decades, the prosocial literature has focused on the underlying motivations of people to adopt prosocial behaviors. Often mobilized in the context of charitable giving, several prosocial theories have been used to explain donation behaviors. So far, authors have mainly focused on altruistic determinants of prosocial tendencies and despite a recent evolution, little is known regarding the role and importance of more self-oriented determinants of charitable giving, and more broadly of prosocial behaviors. The literature on that matter remains scattered, and some authors call for a more integrative approach. To address this gap, the present study investigates the influence of self-interested motives of prosocial behaviors in the context of charitable giving. Through a rigorous qualitative work based on forty-eight in-depth interviews, we identify the role of more personal motives to charitable giving and propose different tracks for future research.