Altruistic Reasons Research Articles

From Rationality to Equality: Three Stages of Doubt

James Sterba’s From Rationality to Equality is a bold effort to show that those who reject morality, coerced provision for basic needs, or a demanding egalitarian standard of justice violate precepts of rationality, resist the implications of their own deep convictions, or negligently ignore ecological dangers. Without opposing his moral conclusions, I present doubts about his arguments. The assessment of higher-ranking altruistic reasons that he calls “Morality as Compromise” is offered as distinctively non-question-begging, but only seems to have this status on a construal that makes it a tautology. Contrary to his charge of inconsistency, right-wing libertarians can rely on a non-arbitrary criterion of coercive worsening in defending the entitlements they favor while rejecting the enforceable welfare right that he supports. The duty to make sacrifices for remote generations on which he bases his demand for substantial equality is in need of defense that he does not provide and does not clearly have the consequence he claims. These gaps point to the need to rely on a broader range of moral convictions, integrated in more complex ways.

Patient Informed Choice for Altruism

Respect for persons protects patients regarding their own healthcare decisions. Patient informed choice for altruism (PICA) is a proposed means for a fully autonomous patient with decisionmaking capacity to limit his or her own treatment for altruistic reasons. An altruistic decision could bond the patient with others at the end of life. We contend that PICA can also be an advance directive option. The proxy, family, and physicians must be reminded that a patient's altruistic treatment refusal should be respected.

Brand awareness: A community perception of a nonprofit organisation

This study was proposed by the United Way of the Midlands to gather information about donors in an uncertain economic environment. Motivation for giving encompasses altruistic and self-serving reasons. The brand is viewed as a ‘boomer’ brand, which is ageing and will soon be replaced by Generation X, Generation Y and the Millennials. These younger cohorts need to be understood and targeted for the long-range sustainability of the United Way. Engaging these potential donors will entail different forms of media. The researchers gathered qualitative data from three focus groups: upper-level managers of corporations that sponsor in-house United Way campaigns; donors to corporate campaigns; and non-donors to the United Way. When the personal needs of donors are recognised and addressed, charitable giving continues. The attrition rate for the first three months of a campaign sets the pattern for attrition throughout the campaign. Individual donors seem to be less sensitive to personal income changes and charitable giving than do corporate donors. Individual non-donors are more likely to donate useful goods and services than individual or corporate donors. There is a positive relationship between income and the amount given. Fourteen recommendations for acquiring new donors and retaining current donors are given.

In-depth Analysis of How Prospective Social Studies Teachers Make Sense of Their Career Choice Decisions

AbstractPeople choose teaching as a career for intrinsic, altruistic, extrinsic, materialistic, and stereotypical reasons. It is also argued that extrinsic, material, and stereotypical reasons divert people's career preferences away from their real interest or talent. Hence the effectiveness of educating teachers depends upon exploring pre-service teachers' rationale for choosing teaching as a career, and using this perspective to shape the teacher education process. This qualitative case study was conducted to investigate holistically how pre-service teachers in the field of social studies make sense of their choice of career. The participants were 12 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a teacher education program for social studies at a major university in western Turkey for the 2010-2011 academic year. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using the content analysis technique. The findings revealed that five related themes took place along the pre-service social studies teachers' journey to the teaching profession: disturbances, role models, getaway, status, and transformation. These themes give idiosyncratic explanations as to why pre-service teachers often depend on extrinsic and altruistic reasons. The participants' experiences also disclosed that these steps, or themes, must be understood in relationship to each other. These experiences might also make important instruments for a constructivist teacher education in the field of social studies.Key WordsCareer Choice, Interview, Social Studies, Teacher Education, Teaching Profession.The teaching profession, in many countries around the world, is often viewed as a secure harbor for those who wish to make a career choice. The choosing of this profession comes about for a number of reasons. For instance, during destabilizing economic crises, the income of the teaching profession remains relatively reasonable almost all of the time. Research studies (e.g., Behymer & Cockriel, 1988; Cermik, Do?an, & ?ahin, 2010; Kniveton, 2004; Maree, Hislop-Esterhuizen, Swanepoel, & van der Linde, 2009) point out that people's career choice often depends on financial reasons and therefore economic pressures usually divert career choices away from their genuine interests or talents. This obviously results in a shortage of motivated and high quality applicants coming into the education program as a career, and as Yong (1995) stated, with a meager commitment to the chosen profession for the long term. From the career choice perspective, however, the teaching profession is among the most vulnerable to extrinsic and material factors.Extrinsic and Material ReasonsFindings of the previous research consistently point out that extrinsic factors play an important role in the career preferences of those who choose the teaching profession (Azman, 2013; Bastick, 2000; Boz & Boz, 2008; Cermik et al., 2010; Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1997, 1998; Saban, 2003; Yong, 1995). Extrinsic reasons cover aspects of the job which are not inherent in the work itself (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000, p. 117). Studies disclose that multiple extrinsic factors play a role in choosing teaching as a career. Among these are pleasing salaries (Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1997), a desire to have a steady income (Saban, 2003), swift employment after graduation (Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1998; Saban, 2003), long summer vacations (Kyriacou, Hultgren, & Stephens, 1999), job security (Johnston, McKeown, & McEwen, 1999), the possibility of having extra time for family and kids (Watt & Richardson, 2007), the prestige of the teaching profession in society (Bastick, 2000), and the encouragement from other people such as parents, teachers, relatives, or friends (Rodzevi?i?t?, 2008; Sinclair, 2008). There are several other extrinsic reasons, such as being in high school orienting a person towards the teaching profession (Boz & Boz, 2008), having good teachers as positive role models (Cermik, Do? …

Community case management of malaria: exploring support, capacity and motivation of community medicine distributors in Uganda.

Background In Uganda, community services for febrile children are expanding from presumptive treatment of fever with anti-malarials through the home-based management of fever (HBMF) programme, to include treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia through Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM). To understand the level of support available, and the capacity and motivation of community health workers to deliver these expanded services, we interviewed community medicine distributors (CMDs), who had been involved in the HBMF programme in Tororo district, shortly before ICCM was adopted.Methods Between October 2009 and April 2010, 100 CMDs were recruited to participate by convenience sampling. The survey included questionnaires to gather information about the CMDs’ work experience and to assess knowledge of fever case management, and in-depth interviews to discuss experiences as CMDs including motivation, supervision and relationships with the community. All questionnaires and knowledge assessments were analysed. Summary contact sheets were made for each of the 100 interviews and 35 were chosen for full transcription and analysis.Results CMDs faced multiple challenges including high patient load, limited knowledge and supervision, lack of compensation, limited drugs and supplies, and unrealistic expectations of community members. CMDs described being motivated to volunteer for altruistic reasons; however, the main benefits of their work appeared related to ‘becoming someone important’, with the potential for social mobility for self and family, including building relationships with health workers. At the time of the survey, over half of CMDs felt demotivated due to limited support from communities and the health system.Conclusions Community health worker programmes rely on the support of communities and health systems to operate sustainably. When this support falls short, motivation of volunteers can wane. If community interventions, in increasingly complex forms, are to become the solution to improving access to primary health care, greater attention to what motivates individuals, and ways to strengthen health system support are required.

Forest owner perceptions of institutions and voluntary contracting for biodiversity conservation: Not crowding out but staying out

Although the concepts of institutions in economics and institutional analysis have been integrated in recent writings about payments for ecosystem services (PES), their joint operationalization and testing have been limited. To tackle this integration challenge, we empirically explore how Finnish non-industrial private forest owners' perceptions about voluntary biodiversity conservation contracting correspond with the institutional theories about PES. Further, we test whether the perceptions are related to PES contracting in the past or in the future. The results of the explorative factor analyses corresponded with the theoretical considerations of both economics and institutional analysis. The logistic regression analyses showed that the factors that related to past contracting differed notably from those that explained future intentions to contract. Most consistently, perceptions about positive ecological impacts were positively related to past contracting, while social and moral normative perceptions had a negative effect. In other words, those who would conserve nature for altruistic reasons tended not to have entered a contract but rather stayed out. Local and social welfare expectations increased the willingness to contract in the future. Our analysis highlights the importance of normative conservation justifications as well as the expectations regarding non-economic benefits and welfare impacts for PES design and analysis.

Harnessing Remittances through Formal Channels for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates how sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries could harness remittances through formal channels for development using annual data for 35 countries from 1980 to 2008. We control for country heterogeneity, endogeneity and cross-sectional dependence of the error term using the least square dummy variable (LSDV) estimator with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) corrected standard errors, the Kiviet (1995) bias-corrected LSDV estimator and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) by Parks (1967) and Kmenta (1986). We find that financial deepening in the home country is critical to the use of formal channels and the ability of sub-Saharan African countries to harness remittances for development. Besides remitting home for altruistic reasons, sub-Saharan African migrants would also respond to investment opportunities in their home countries, contingent on a stable exchange rate. Sub-Saharan African migrants also remit more money home when their incomes increase in the host country.

Is corporate social responsibility a motivator or hygiene factor? Insights into its bivalent nature

This study fills extant gaps in the marketing literature by further probing the multi-faceted impact of a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on customer relationships, and it marks the first systematic marketing study devoted to investigating CSR as a bivalent mechanism that encompasses both motivation and hygiene properties. Via a field study utilizing three separate samples of customer survey data (combined n = 2,408) collected over three seasons from a professional basketball team, results support a moderated mediation model wherein CSR is shown to be a necessary and sufficient mechanism for stronger customer relationships. While business leaders typically support the notion of CSR for largely altruistic reasons, our research brings new understanding as to how CSR operates in customers’ minds and suggests that CSR is not only something that a company should engage in based on principled grounds but also something that a company must practice for strategic reasons as their customers demand it and place relational value on it.

Corporate socially responsible investments: CEO altruism, reputation, and shareholder interests

Corporate managers often invest in activities that are deemed to be socially responsible. In some instances, these investments enhance shareholder value. However, in other cases, altruistic managers or managers who privately benefit from the positive attention arising from these activities may choose to make socially responsible investments even if they are not value enhancing. Given this backdrop, we investigate the various factors that motivate firm managers to make socially responsible investments. We find that larger firms, firms with greater free cash flow, and higher advertising outlays demonstrate higher levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We also find that companies with stronger institutional ownership are less likely to invest in CSR — which casts doubt on the argument that these investments are designed to promote shareholder value. Consistent with the literature that explores how CEO personal attributes influence corporate decision making, we find that female CEOs, younger CEOs, and managers who donate to both Republican and Democratic parties are significantly more likely to invest in CSR. This latter result suggests that CSR investments may not be driven solely for altruistic reasons, but instead may be part of a broader strategy to create goodwill and/or help maintain good political relations. Finally, we find a strong positive connection between the level of media scrutiny surrounding the firm and its CEO, and the level of CSR investment. This finding suggests that media attention helps induce firms to make socially responsible investments.

Why People Choose to Teach in Urban Schools: The Case for a Push–Pull Factor Analysis

This qualitative research study traces the motivations for teaching of 13 teacher candidates enrolled in an urban-based alternative certification program. After using a push–pull factor analysis, the data suggest that most participants left their previous careers due to financial shortcomings or work instability. As a result, these participants were also less attracted to teaching based on altruistic reasons when compared to those whose major motivation to teach occurred as part of a quest for personal fulfillment.

A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to minority research participation among African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

To assess the experienced or perceived barriers and facilitators to health research participation for major US racial/ethnic minority populations, we conducted a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative studies from a search on PubMed and Web of Science from January 2000 to December 2011. With 44 articles included in the review, we found distinct and shared barriers and facilitators. Despite different expressions of mistrust, all groups represented in these studies were willing to participate for altruistic reasons embedded in cultural and community priorities. Greater comparative understanding of barriers and facilitators to racial/ethnic minorities' research participation can improve population-specific recruitment and retention strategies and could better inform future large-scale prospective quantitative and in-depth ethnographic studies.

The HVTN503/Phambili HIV vaccine trial: a comparison of younger and older participants

By comparing younger to older participants enrolled in a HIV vaccine efficacy trial, we aimed to gain insights into the inclusion of adolescents in future trials. This was a sub-analysis of a multisite HIV vaccine randomized clinical trial in South Africa, conducted January-September 2007. Motivations for trial enrolment, social harms, adverse events and loss to follow-up were compared between younger (18-20 years old) and older participants (21-35 years old). Both younger (n = 238) and older participants (n = 563) were equally likely to report enrolling for altruistic reasons. Younger females were less likely than older participants to join for trial reimbursement (p = 0.005), while younger males were more likely to enrol because the vaccine may provide protection from HIV-acquisition (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the number of social harms reported. Compared to males over 20 years old, 18-20-year-old females were less likely to experience adverse events (OR = 0.1, CI 0.01-0.80) and no more likely to be lost to follow-up (OR = 0.7, CI 0.39-1.25), while 18-20-year-old males were no more likely to experience adverse events (OR = 1.3, CI 0.58-2.83) or loss to follow-up (OR = 0.8, CI 0.51-1.41). Our data support the inclusion of younger participants who are at risk for HIV in future HIV vaccine efficacy trials.

Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping: Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping

In organizations where work is complex, dynamic and interdependent, maintaining an environment where employees offer help to one another is essential for organizational effectiveness. This research is aimed at understanding the antecedent motives underlying task-related interpersonal helping. The research took an atypical approach by asking employees directly to explain in their own words why they would, or would not, help co-workers with work-related problems. Content analysis yielded five categories of motives for helping. The qualitative motive categories were able to explain variance in quantitative scales assessing respondents’ affect, attitudes, organizational perceptions, and demographics. Employees who gave altruistic reasons for helping (i.e., helping was a personal value or a contribution to the team) reported performing more helping behaviors, expressed greater organizational commitment, and perceived more organizational justice than did employees who expected reciprocity for helping, or whose help was contingent. No existing theory of helping explains the total collection of motives identified in this research. We encourage researchers to develop integrated theories capable of explaining the totality of motives for task-related helping. Our research identities several essential parameters of such integrated theories and provides guidance for carrying out the task of theory integration. This phenomenological research is the only empirical investigations into task-related helping based on respondents’ own reasons for helping. It also is one of the few to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

The Reasons for Information Technologies Pre-Service Teachers to Prefer Teaching Profession and Their Attitudes towards the Profession.

This study was carried out to determine the reasons for information technologies pre-service teachers for preferring teaching profession and whether their attitudes towards the profession differ according to the variables of gender, graduated high school, order of department preference, class level, the profession wanted to be worked and attitude of the lecturer. The study was carried out upon 160 pre-service teachers. The data were collected using the attitude scale related to teaching profession and the questionnaire including the questions related to the personal information and reasons to prefer the profession. As result of the research, it was noticed that altruistic reasons were noticed to be more efficient upon pre-service teachers’ professional preferences, the reasons for preferring the profession did not change according to the gender in general, their attitudes towards the profession differed according to the high school they graduated and order of department preference, but does not differed according to the variables of gender, class level, the profession wanted to be worked and attitudes of the lecturers. Key words: Pre-service teachers, reasons to choose teaching profession, attitudes towards the teaching profession

Subsidized Child Care by Grandparents: Profiles of Caregivers in an Emerging Public Service Context

Grandparents have become an important source of subsidized noncustodial child care provision as states have developed child care subsidy programs for working families. Based on a sample of 140 grandparents providing care in one state subsidy program, this article examines grandparent characteristics, caregiving patterns, experiences with care provision, and training and resource needs in this emerging public service context. Our findings indicate that grandparents provide care largely for altruistic reasons. They offer vital care during nontraditional work hours and are more receptive to training provision than often is understood. Based on study findings, several strategies are presented for supporting subsidized grandparent caregivers.

An Econometric Analysis of The Remittance Determinants Among Ghanaians and Nigerians in The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany

AbstractThis paper examines the determinants of remittance behavior relying on a dataset of migrants living in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States who remit to Ghana and Nigeria. Controlling for endogeneity of several independent variables, the model measures the effects on the amount sent of the following variables: Home Country (Ghana or Nigeria), Host Country (United States, United Kingdom or Germany), Remittance Fees, Relationship to the Receiver, Purpose of Remittance, Financial Obligations in the Host Country, and Demographics. The results indicate that remittances are primarily influenced by the purpose of the remittance and from where the remittance is sent. It appears that different generations chose to migrate to different countries, creating differences in income, education and age. These differences along with financial obligations in the host country contribute to higher remittance levels. In regards to the development affects, the results of this paper hint that altruistic reasons for remitting may be associated with higher levels of remittances, while more self‐interested reasons for remitting are associated with lower levels of remittances. These results indicate that it may be difficult to design policies to encourage the use of remittances for development purposes, as remittances are primarily used for basic needs.

Blood donors and factors impacting the blood donation decision: Motives for donating blood in Turkish sample

Donations in Turkey are insufficient to cover the high transfusion needs arising from large numbers of thalassemia and sickle cell anemia patients and increasing demands for blood due to advanced surgery and cancer treatment. The most acceptable means to get blood is voluntary blood donation and the blood donor system in Turkey mostly depends on a combination of voluntary and involuntary donors. The main aim of this study is to explore the motivations of Turkish voluntary blood donors toward blood donation and to determine predictors of blood donation motivation. A cross-sectional sample survey of active blood donors in Ankara, Turkey was conducted. The sample consisted of 189 male volunteer blood donor adults. Donors filled in a self-administered questionnaire including the measures of demographic information, empathetic concern, altruism, social responsibility and blood donation motivation questionnaire during donation. Factor analysis of Blood Donation Motivation Measure with varimax rotation revealed a three-factor solution named as "values and moral duty", "positive feelings and esteem" and "self-benefit and external reasons". The results with regression analyses showed that only social responsibility had an significant effect independent of age, income, and education on blood donation motivation. These result reflects that blood donation motivation not only linked to a high degree of altruistic reasons, but also to a combination of some self-regarding motives. Additionally, feelings of empathy or altruism may be less strong at the time the decision to help, other factors may have a larger influence on helping decisions.

Analysis of motivations that lead women to participate (or not) in a newborn cohort study

BackgroundLittle is known about reasons that influence parents’ decision to participate in studies enrolling healthy children. The aim of this observational study was to verify the reasons that lead pregnant women to give their consent or to refuse participation to a newborn cohort study with a long follow up time.MethodsTo prospectively investigate the reasons that lead women to participate, to refuse the participation or to withdraw from a newborn cohort study, three different questionnaires were administered to pregnant women contacted or enrolled in the Phime cohort study, carried out in an Italian Hospital from 2007 to 2010.ResultsPhime study participation was refused by 304 women and 145 withdrew their consent during the follow up. All these women filled in the related questionnaires. Within 632 mothers in follow up at 18 months, 430 filled in the questionnaire on motivation to participate: 97% stated that the main reason was to contribute to research; 96% and 90% stated that they wanted to benefit future babies’ and mothers’ health. Ninety-six percent of women would appreciate to know the results of analysis carried out on biological samples collected and of the overall study results. One third of the mothers (37%) wanted to be involved in the definition of future similar studies, bringing their experience and their views. Within the 304 women who refused participation, 56% stated that the study was too demanding, 26% was not interested in participating and 18% was concerned about the need to collect biological samples and to be submitted to neurocognitive tests. Fifty-two percent of 145 women who withdrew after enrollment stated that the study was too demanding (52%), and 6% was concerned about the biological samples collection.ConclusionsThe altruistic reason appears to be the main reported by women to decide to participate in a newborn cohort study. The fact that the study was too demanding and the need to collect biological samples are important reasons that lead women to refuse participation or to withdraw from the study. An adequate communication on these aspects should minimize difficulties in enrolment and losses to follow up.

Grateful Patient Philanthropy: Is What’s Good for the Goose Good for the Gander?

In this month’s issue, Wright, et al. examine the ethical issues involved in the solicitation of grateful patient philanthropy.1 The physicians surveyed in their study identified a number of potential concerns with patient philanthropy, including the possibility of exploiting vulnerable patients and providing differential care based on patients’ level of giving. While the article does a good job of identifying the issues, we believe these issues should be considered in greater depth.

Motivating Adult Children to Provide Support to a Family Caregiver

This study compared altruistically and egoistically framed messages for encouraging adult children to support a parent providing care for an elderly relative. Undergraduate students imagined their mother filling a caregiving role while reading a message about family caregiving and the physical and psychological stresses it involves. The message encouraged participants to support the caregiver either for altruistic (other-oriented) or egoistic (self-oriented) reasons. Thereafter, participants completed self-assessment surveys of attachment style and willingness to provide support. Securely attached (less self-oriented) participants were not differentially influenced by the two messages. However, insecurely attached (more self-oriented) participants were more willing to help if they received the egoistic message than if they received the altruistic message. Thus, knowledge of a family member's attachment style can be useful for selecting an appropriate method for encouraging caregiver support. Whereas the type of message used does not matter for securely attached individuals, an egoistically framed message may be more influential than an altruistically framed message among insecurely attached individuals. It is important that clinicians work with families to establish appropriate levels of individual commitment to caregiving responsibilities or supportive behaviours such that involvement is beneficial to the health of the caregiver, the care recipient and supporters.