Honors Projects

Abstract

There is a belief that students in college often pursue an undergraduate business degree due to the money that comes with the industry. Whereas students pursuing an undergraduate degree in health and human services are believed to be more altruistic, pursuing jobs such as social work, nursing, criminal justice, and other careers that give back to communities despite their often lower-than-average salaries. While this difference in altruism is a common belief, it has rarely been a proven one. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the difference in altruism between students from the Schmidthorst College of Business and the College of Health and Human Services at Bowling Green State University. A survey and a subsequent behavioral observation were conducted to gather data for statistical analysis. The survey gathered qualitative data regarding self-identity and collective identity of an individual. In the behavioral observation, a participant was encouraged to donate to charity. The act of donating and the amount of money donated serve as indicators of altruism within an individual. From this, an analysis was done to examine the effects of self and collective identity (college enrollment) on altruistic behavior and to determine if there is a significant difference in altruism between the two colleges.

Major

Business Analytics and Intelligence

Second Major

Applied Economics

First Advisor

Dr. Peter VanderHart

First Advisor Department

Economics

Second Advisor

Diane Conway

Second Advisor Department

Applied Statistics and Operations Research

Publication Date

Fall 12-5-2022

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