Does change come from within? Exploring factors influencing an individuals’ decision making

This thesis studies the willingness of individuals to engage with initiatives and programs targeted towards supporting LGBT individuals in India. As well as the effect of some individual characteristics such as the age, gender, cognitive abilities, educational background and number of children, on people’s decisions to engage with these initiatives. The thesis adopts an experimental approach and draws on data from a randomly collected online sample of 600 individuals in India. The experiment required the participants to complete a survey comprising of seven questions. The results of the survey were examined using a multinomial logistic regression. The results obtained after analyzing the responses showed that providing information about the initiatives targeted towards LGBT related social impacts increased the willingness of individuals to support them. Further highlighting that females, individuals aged 25 years or below, individuals having higher cognitive abilities and having children are more willing to support initiates targeted towards LGBT individuals once they were provided with more information. While the sample of this experimental study is not representative of India’s population it does reveal some insights. The results obtained from the experiment elucidate the importance of generating awareness and information regarding the struggles of LGBT individuals in order to tackle the issues of stigmatization and discrimination.