Altruism and transfer behaviour

Purpose: This paper provides some preliminary results on the role of altruism on wellbeing through social interaction, culture, social capital, and institution. Originality: The findings contribute to altruism literature by explicitly separating psychological from behavioural altruism as well as explaining the relationship between the two types of altruism using mathematical approach. The definition of altruism and its relationship with transfer behaviour from previous literature (such as from Gary S. Becker, David Collard, Thomas Nagel, Howard Margolis, William K. Frankena, Robert H. Frank, and Phillip Kitcher) become more precisely stated. Key literature/theoretical perspective: The definition and properties of altruism are developed from an individual utility function. Design/methodology/approach: Simple mathematical logics and models are applied to define altruism and its role in transfer behaviour. Findings: In general, the conclusion indicates that the level of altruism has positive influence on the transfer of resources of an individual to other members of a society. Therefore, the total consumption of others in the society is also positively influenced by this individual’s level of altruism. Practical and social implications: It is shown that being psychologically altruistic alone does not guarantee that someone will behave altruistically. Likewise, demonstrating transfer to others is not always caused by high level of altruism.