British Academy backs philanthropy study
The University of St Andrews Business School has secured a grant from the British Academy to support a new international research project examining how philanthropy operates across different cultural and institutional contexts.
The project, led by Professor Tobias Jung, Director of the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good in the School’s Department of Management, runs from May 2026 to April 2027 and will compare the philanthropic ecosystems of Scotland and Taiwan. Working in partnership with National Taiwan University, the research will explore how laws, organisations and social motivations shape charitable activity in both settings.
Philanthropy, or giving time, money, skills or support to help others, plays an important role in addressing social and economic challenges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how it works in practice, particularly in different cultural settings.
The study will examine four areas: how philanthropy is understood, how it is structured institutionally, how organisations operate within it, and what motivates individuals and institutions to participate. Researchers will use document analysis, focus groups and in-depth interviews in both countries.
The work builds on a framework developed by Jung through earlier collaboration with Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan. The framework examines philanthropy across seven dimensions: ecosystem, resource, purpose, execution, benefit, context, and temporal.
Professor Jung said:
“This project allows us to look at philanthropy not as a single model, but as something shaped by different institutional and cultural contexts. By comparing Scotland and Taiwan, we can better understand how these systems work in practice and what they can learn from each other.
“It also builds on earlier work on Scottish foundations. It uses a framework developed through international collaboration, helping us connect insights across different contexts and develop a more integrated understanding of how philanthropy operates.”