Purpose

This paper examines how the inferred motives for corporate philanthropy relate to the types of charitable causes supported.

Design/methodology/approach

Published data were obtained for 256 publicly traded and private corporations from a variety of sources.

Findings

The results demonstrated that a number of motives were not significantly related to total charitable giving, but were related to how charitable funds were distributed to various charitable causes. Thus, the study provides insights on the strategic use of corporate charity as means of achieving various business objectives and advancing a theoretical understanding of corporate philanthropy strategies.

Research limitations/implications

This study only investigated some of the presumed motives for corporate philanthropy. Even for the motives investigated in this study, no attempt was made to examine all the motivational factors that determine the level of need for a specific motive. Thus, while the present study provides some of the first evidence of a relationship between motivational factors and data on the types of charitable causes supported, there are other motivational factors that could be investigated in future studies.

Practical implications

The results have a number of implications for managers of nonprofit organizations such as marketing/targeting potential donors. Additionally, the results could be useful for managers of for profit firms in terms of comparing corporate strategies with competing firms.

Originality/value

The study provides a framework for investigating the relationship between motivational factors and types of charitable causes supported.

中文翻译：

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支持企业慈善和慈善事业的动机

目的

本文考察了企业慈善事业的推断动机与所支持的慈善事业类型之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

从各种来源获得了 256 家上市公司和私营公司的已发布数据。

发现

结果表明，一些动机与慈善捐赠总额没有显着关系，但与慈善资金如何分配给各种慈善事业有关。因此，该研究提供了对企业慈善作为实现各种商业目标的手段的战略使用的见解，并促进了对企业慈善战略的理论理解。

研究限制/影响

本研究仅调查了企业慈善事业的一些假定动机。即使对于本研究中调查的动机，也没有尝试检查所有决定特定动机需求水平的动机因素。因此，虽然本研究提供了一些关于激励因素与支持的慈善事业类型数据之间关系的初步证据，但在未来的研究中还可以调查其他激励因素。

实际影响

结果对非营利组织的管理人员有许多影响，例如营销/瞄准潜在捐助者。此外，在将公司战略与竞争公司进行比较方面，结果可能对营利性公司的经理有用。

原创性/价值

该研究为调查动机因素与支持的慈善事业类型之间的关系提供了一个框架。