Charitable motivations: the role of prestige and identification

ABSTRACT

The pinnacle of engagement for a nonprofit is a donation, yet as donations decline and competition increases, some nonprofits risk becoming obsolete. Why does an individual donate? What drives his or her decision? Two constructs are found to be vital in inducing action: prestige and identification. In an increasingly competitive landscape, we hypothesize that organizations can use prestige building activities as a critical strategy to an organization in achieving identification, thus increasing donations. The present study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms through which prestige effects on donation intentions materialize through the mediator of identification.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational prestige
• organizational identification
• donations
• nonprofit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.