Prosocial Behaviour of Citizens in Bangalore City, Karnataka State

Abstract

Of late there is an increase in the number of harmful incidence in public spheres. Hence, the prosocial behaviour of bystanders is important to support persons in such incidents. This study aims at understanding the prosocial behaviours of bystanders of the metropolitan city in the southern part of India. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted with six respondents aged between 30-50 years. In-depth interviews were conducted, audio-recorded and transcribed later. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The qualitative analysis found two major themes such as factors that encourage citizen’s prosocial behaviour that includes sense of belongingness, empathy, positive experiences, convenience and factors that discourage citizen’s prosocial behaviour that include fear of being blamed, fear of being attacked, corruption and time-consuming procedures, barriers in understanding language, negative experiences.