Examining charitable donation process in South India: role of gender

Abstract

With increasing financial clout, females are potentially poised as a greater source of charitable giving in the West. However, debate exists in the marketing literature about gender‐based differences in charitable donations. The purpose of this study is to research whether gender‐based segmentation is effective for charities in cultures in which high gender inequality exists. Hence, India, an emerging economy with high gender inequality, was chosen as the study setting. Following an extensive literature review, we identified gender, trust, attitude towards the ad, and feelings from the ad as key predictors of charitable donation intentions. A study model was developed and tested using regression analysis. It was found that the predictor variables have significant impact on intentions to donate. Hence, this study posits that gender could potentially be an effective segmentation variable for charities that are targeting potential donors in South India. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.