dc.description.abstract | In recent years, with the rapid development of Taiwan′s economy and society, the people have become increasingly prosperous, and their inherent compassion towards disasters naturally emerges. This has gradually elevated the importance of public welfare, and individual donations have become one of the mainstream ways to support public welfare endeavors. Consequently, social institutions and charitable organizations have also emerged accordingly. So, how can we encourage more people to care about society, help the underprivileged, and provide much-needed support to Taiwan?
"Accumulating water forms a deep pool, accumulating soil forms a mountain." It is essential to prioritize exploring the motivations behind individual donations, thereby analyzing the characteristics of donation behavior and its impact on government and related institutions. This will facilitate the formulation of corresponding preferential donation policies and measures by the government and relevant organizations, encouraging more people to participate in donations and ensuring that society receives more and better relief and resources.
This study aims to explore in depth the explanatory factors and changes influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic on the donation expenditure decisions and behaviors of the people in Taiwan. The research methodology involves using the Probit model to examine the factors influencing the donation decisions of household heads and utilizing the Heckman two-step estimation method to discuss the factors affecting the donation expenditure behavior of household heads. Additionally, a comparison is made between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods. The explanatory variables include age, gender, education level, annual income, the number of income earners in the household, household population, employed population, adult population, and population over 65 years old.
Based on the empirical results, the donation expenditure decisions and behaviors of household heads are mainly influenced by their own characteristics. Among these characteristics, annual income has the most significant impact. Although the pandemic has led to a decrease in the probability of donations, the donation amounts have increased. In terms of gender, women have a higher probability of donating than men, but their donation amounts are lower. Other factors such as age, education level, and household structure have varying effects on the probability and amounts of donations made by household heads. When examining the donation expenditure decisions and behaviors of household heads before and after the pandemic, the results show no significant changes. | en_US |