Are We Still Giving Our Money to Beggars? Prosocial Intention in between of Religion, Emotion, Corruption, and Government Policy Advocacy

Abstract

This research aimed to describe the dynamics of begging behavior in big cities in Indonesia, explain the psychological and social of the behavior, as well as examine the compatibility of the prosocial behavior decision-making model with the behavior of giving money to beggars by inhabitants of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. This research used a qualitative method namely interview with 20 participants (9 males, 11 females) age of 21-46 years old of various occupations (student, lecturer, trader, employee, etc.) and ethnicities (Chinese, Javanese, Betawinese, and Maduranese) who still give money or goods to beggars when this research was conducted. During the interview process, the authors provided intervention to participants in the form of fear communication and minimal counseling with the purpose to divert their intention of giving to beggars into giving of the donation through authorized disseminator of social assistance. This research found that factors such as religion, compassion, institutional corruption, and law enforcement play important roles in determining preferred target of prosocial behavior. Nevertheless, the cognitive-emotional intervention conducted by the authors was successful, which was indicated by the fact of 12 of the 20 participants agreeing to divert their target of prosocial behavior.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1817