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Scale to Measure Attitudes Influencing Monetary Donations to Charitable Organisations

SMAIMDCOCharitable giving attitudes represent the evaluative dispositions that shape individuals' monetary donation decisions. Webb, Green & Brashear (2000) identify four psychologically distinct components: (1) attitude toward helping — a general moral orientation toward assisting those in need, reflecting altruistic and prosocial values; (2) awareness of need — the degree to which an individual perceives social problems and human suffering as widespread and serious enough to warrant charitable response; (3) solicitation — affective and cognitive reactions to being directly approached or pressured for donations, which can function as a situational barrier to giving even among prosocially motivated individuals; and (4) attitude toward charitable organisations — trust, confidence, and evaluation of charities as effective and honest stewards of donated funds.

20 items 2000 α 0.72–0.89 Free Webb, D.J., Green, C.L., & Brashear, T.G.

What it measures

A multi-dimensional instrument validated to capture the attitudinal antecedents of monetary charitable giving. Developed via exploratory item generation, expert review, and CFA validation (n=398). The four-factor structure demonstrated acceptable fit with convergent and discriminant validity confirmed via average variance extracted and inter-construct correlations. ATH captures moral and prosocial orientation underlying charitable intent; AN reflects appraisal of social need severity; SOL is negatively valenced — higher scores indicate discomfort with direct donation requests, functioning as a psychological barrier to actual giving even for prosocially motivated individuals; ACO reflects institutional trust in charities as effective intermediaries. ATH and AN are positive predictors of donation frequency and amount; ACO moderates the translation of prosocial attitudes into actual donations; SOL is a critical construct for direct-mail, door-to-door, and telemarketing fundraising contexts where solicitation pressure may deter otherwise willing donors. The scale enables targeted segmentation: high-AN/low-ACO donors may respond to organisational transparency messaging; high-ATH/high-SOL donors may respond better to low-pressure opt-in channels.

Representative items

I feel a moral obligation to help those less fortunate than myself. (ATH)
There is a great deal of need in this world. (AN)
It bothers me when I am directly asked to give to charity. (SOL)
Most charitable organisations do a good job with the money they receive. (ACO)
People should be willing to help others who are less fortunate. (ATH)

Citation

Webb, D.J., Green, C.L., & Brashear, T.G. (2000). Development and validation of scales to measure attitudes influencing monetary donations to charitable organizations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 299–309.

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