Philippine E-Journals

Impact of International Charity on the Prosocial Behavioral Tendencies of Students at Religious Schools

De-Yin Shih | Sr. Bernadette Racadio | Yu-Mei Tsai

 

Abstract:

This study investigated the use of news clips reporting on the charitable work of a Taiwan-based Buddhist non-governmental organization, the Tzu Chi Foundation, at three religious schools to determine the prosocial behavioral tendencies of students from 2015 to 2016. The clips documented national and international humanitarian relief efforts. In total, 226 college students at two Catholic colleges in the Philippines and 630 students at a Buddhist university in Taiwan were enrolled. Using a pretest–posttest design, a prosocial tendency measures-adapted questionnaire was administered to them and the impact of watching the clips of charitable actions was explored. The students’ answers were analyzed using a paired t test. Significant differences in the dimensions of anonymity, altruism, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation were revealed in different student cohorts. Therefore, this study confirmed the positive influence of charitable actions on the prosocial behavioral tendencies of students.