Effects of empathy on fund-raising activities on behalf of victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, focusing on the residents in the South Kanto area

Abstract

Fund-raising activities on behalf of victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake during the year after the earthquake were investigated in residents of the South Kanto area (N = 749), which is adjacent to the disaster area. The percentage of people that raised funds was 67.4%. We investigated the effects of the following on fundraising activities: demographic variables (sex, age, and educational background), trait empathy (empathic concern perspective taking, and personal distress), former experience with fund-raising activities, effects of similarity to victims (e.g., experienced inconveniences, because of the disaster, or had problems returning home), and psychological closeness to victims (e.g., have family members or acquaintances that suffered from the disaster, or that once lived in the disaster area). The results indicated that fund-raising activities were affected by former experience with fund-raising, similarity to victims, psychological closeness to victims, empathic concern, and being female. The relationship between fund-raising activities for victims and empathy are discussed.