Dr. Gil Peleg

Dr. Gil Peleg, clinical assistant professor of marketing at Sy Syms School of Business, was recently awarded funding from the Office of the Provost’s Faculty Research Fund to investigate the pro-social behavior of individuals. “I am interested in the way that this behavior is shaped by a benefactor’s own personal goals and motivation as well as by societal and environmental norms. A better understanding of such behavior can help identify the theoretical interplay of social norms and individuals’ behavior and the signals they send society. Furthermore, such insight may lead to potential changes that can be made in such behavior towards a better outcome for all parties.” The funding will support an examination of donors’ behavior when they face donation decisions to nonprofit organizations with respect to that organization’s lifecycle stage because, as studies have shown, the organization lifecycle stage is associated with donors’ decision process. “While young organizations may not benefit from a positive reputation,” he noted, “other characteristics may help overcome its disadvantage compared to mature and/or well-known ones.” The research funding will help develop insights into this subject area. Dr. Peleg sees this research as a good fit with the the mission of Sy Syms. “Our goal is to create leaders with professional skills guided by Judaism as a way of life, which are exactly the kinds of leaders the nonprofit sector needs to pursue their own missions of creating a better world and fundraising for good.” Through the Faculty Research Fund, Yeshiva University supports the research, scholarship and creative activity of the full-time faculty at all University schools and colleges. The maximum award for a research grant is $7,500, and recommendations are made to the Provost by a deans’ committee that rotates its membership every two years.