Personality linked to purpose: study

Posted on 05 May 2025

By Greg Thom, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia

Specific personality traits can have a major influence on people’s willingness to volunteer or donate to charity, according to new research.

Besides financial and social incentives, individual differences in people's personality can explain why some of us are more likely to contribute to community welfare than others.

Researchers at the department of psychology of the University of Zurich have examined the so-called "big five" personality traits:

Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism

They then explored links between these traits and people's willingness to engage in “prosocial” behaviour.

The researchers analysed 29 international studies comprising more than 90,000 participants.

The project included different methods to describe people's personality and covered various forms of philanthropic engagement.

“This knowledge can be used to develop more targeted strategies aimed at promoting volunteering and charitable giving."

Professor of psychology at the University of Zurich Wiebke Bleidorn.

The study findings revealed that two personality traits in particular are linked to philanthropic engagement: sociability and assertiveness, which led to a greater willingness of extraverts to volunteer.

Agreeableness correlated more closely with a willingness to give money to charity.

Researchers said this behaviour could be explained by the fact that agreeable people tend to be more compassionate and considerate of other people's feelings.

Research on the other personality traits, however, yielded mixed results.

There was no clear link between conscientiousness and philanthropic engagement.

Professor of psychology at the University of Zurich Wiebke Bleidorn said openness and neuroticism also appeared to have little effect on people's prosocial behaviour.

"Our findings confirm that individual differences in personality play a role in whether and how much people engage in prosocial behaviour,” she said.

Bleidorn said she believed a better understanding of these links can help to encourage people to contribute to the common welfare based on their individual strengths and motivations.

Another member of the research team, Christopher J. Hopwood, said he hoped the study would not only provide valuable scientific insights but also practical guidance for organisations and policymakers keen to promote volunteering and charitable giving.

“This knowledge can be used to develop more targeted strategies aimed at promoting volunteering and charitable giving."