Date
7-22-2025
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Breck L. Perry
Keywords
intrinsic, extrinsic, psychological needs, higher education institutions, trustee, interviews, artifacts, focus groups
Disciplines
Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
Firth, Robert Russell, "A Phenomenological Study: Exploring the Lived Philanthropic Motivation of Trustees at Private Universities" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7181.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7181
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative, hermeneutical phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of motivated philanthropic giving for board of trustee members at two private higher education institutions in the north-central United States. The theory guiding this study is Ryan and Deci's theory of self-determination, as it relates to the trustees’ intrinsic motivation to be philanthropic and benevolent while engaging with the university and serving on the board of trustees. The central research question was: What are the lived experiences that intrinsically motivate the board of trustee members to be philanthropic at two private higher education institutions in the north-central part of the United States? The qualitative design, based on van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach, explored the lived experiences of 13 individual participants through interviews, participant artifacts, and focus groups, finding what intrinsically and extrinsically motivated them to engage in philanthropy. Data analysis in this study employed Saldaña’s two-cycle coding, yielding five major themes that addressed the central research question: giving from the heart, long-term legacy, time, talent, money, board participation, pride, and participant artifacts. The study identified why board members give, the artifacts that motivated them to be more benevolent, and what motivated and inspired them to be more philanthropic while serving on the board. The study found that intrinsic motivation to give increased when giving is connected to an artifact that inspired trustees to give. Artifacts became the lynchpin of the study and had a profound impact on the outcome. There is a gap in the research addressing intrinsically motivated giving, and this study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing insights into what motivates trustees to give.
