Exploring Altruistic Behavior: Covid-19 Fear Among University Students

This study aims to investigate how altruistic behavior is influenced by COVID-19 fear, risk-taking attitudes, personality traits, and gender. For this purpose, different from existing studies, altruism is measured through both using a dictator game and moral dilemmas centered on altruistic and egoistic choices. Further, the effect of COVID-19 on altruism is examined for the first time in an emerging country and the Turkish version of the questions about the altruistic/egoistic moral dilemmas to assess altruism is introduced to the existing literature, enhancing the applicability of this measurement in different cultural context. The data is collected through an online questionnaire and results of the multiple linear regression show that agreeableness, one of the Big Five personality traits, and gender play significant roles in allocations within the dictator game. Additionally, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and risk-taking attitudes are found to influence altruistic tendencies in altruistic/egoistic moral dilemmas. Specifically, females and individuals with higher levels of agreeableness tend to allocate more generously in the dictator game. Furthermore, those who are more conscientious, agreeable, and inclined towards risk-taking tended to provide more altruistic responses in moral dilemmas. The implications of these findings are discussed considering the crisis period, such as a pandemic in a country.