IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/irpnmk/v17y2020i4d10.1007_s12208-020-00255-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How to turn lurkers into donors? A study of online social support interactions between nonprofit organizations and their followers

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng Hong

    (California State University, Sacramento)

  • Cong Li

    (University of Miami)

Abstract

An increasing number of nonprofits are interacting with their current and prospective donors on social media. How to elicit donations effectively through social media, however, remains under-researched. This study applied the optimal matching theory to examine online interactions between nonprofit organizations and their followers. A 2 (valence of organizational post: positive vs. negative) × 2 (type of social support: emotional vs. informational) between-subjects experiment was conducted to investigate how the match between a nonprofit organization’s need and its followers’ social support impacts third-party observers’ perceived relationship satisfaction and donation intention. The mediation effect of enacted social support evaluation (i.e., perceived helpfulness, supportiveness, and sensitiveness) was also examined. It was found that organizational post valence exerted an indirect effect on third-party observers’ perceived relationship satisfaction and donation intention through perceived supportiveness and helpfulness. These mediation effects were conditional on the type of social support provided by online followers of the organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng Hong & Cong Li, 2020. "How to turn lurkers into donors? A study of online social support interactions between nonprofit organizations and their followers," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 17(4), pages 527-547, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:irpnmk:v:17:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s12208-020-00255-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12208-020-00255-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12208-020-00255-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12208-020-00255-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Céline Jacob & Nicolas Guéguen & Gaëlle Boulbry, 2018. "How proof of previous donations influences compliance with a donation request: three field experiments," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, March.
    2. Erlandsson, Arvid & Västfjäll, Daniel & Sundfelt, Oskar & Slovic, Paul, 2016. "Argument-inconsistency in charity appeals: Statistical information about the scope of the problem decrease helping toward a single identified victim but not helping toward many non-identified victims ," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 126-140.
    3. Erlandsson, Arvid & Björklund, Fredrik & Bäckström, Martin, 2015. "Emotional reactions, perceived impact and perceived responsibility mediate the identifiable victim effect, proportion dominance effect and in-group effect respectively," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Robert Mittelman & José Rojas-Méndez, 2018. "Why Canadians give to charity: an extended theory of planned behaviour model," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(2), pages 189-204, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Min Chung Han, 2021. "Thumbs down on “likes”? The impact of Facebook reactions on online consumers’ nonprofit engagement behavior," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 18(2), pages 255-272, June.
    2. Bataoui, Soffien & Boch, Emmanuelle, 2023. "The role of socially rich photos in generating favorable donation behavior on charity websites," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Young-joo Lee, 2022. "Social media capital and civic engagement: Does type of connection matter?," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(1), pages 167-189, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Meng-Ran & Yin, Cheng-Yue, 2022. "Facial expressions of beneficiaries and donation intentions of potential donors: Effects of the number of beneficiaries in charity advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Butts, Marcus M. & Lunt, Devin C. & Freling, Traci L. & Gabriel, Allison S., 2019. "Helping one or helping many? A theoretical integration and meta-analytic review of the compassion fade literature," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 16-33.
    3. Adalberto Rangone & Luca Busolli, 2021. "Managing charity 4.0 with Blockchain: a case study at the time of Covid-19," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 18(4), pages 491-521, December.
    4. Heizler, Odelia & Israeli, Osnat, 2021. "The identifiable victim effect and public opinion toward immigration; a natural experiment study," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Mohammad Shahfaraz Khan & Mustafa Raza Rabbani & Iqbal Thonse Hawaldar & Abu Bashar, 2022. "Determinants of Behavioral Intentions to Use Islamic Financial Technology: An Empirical Assessment," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-13, May.
    6. Fernando Rey Castillo-Villar & Judith Cavazos-Arroyo, 2020. "Social Representations of “Rounding Up” as a Cause-Related Marketing Practice: A Study of Mexican Millennials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Jay L. Caulfield & Catharyn A. Baird & Felissa K. Lee, 2022. "The Ethicality of Point-of-Sale Marketing Campaigns: Normative Ethics Applied to Cause-Related Checkout Charities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(4), pages 799-814, February.
    8. Erlandsson, Arvid & Västfjäll, Daniel & Sundfelt, Oskar & Slovic, Paul, 2016. "Argument-inconsistency in charity appeals: Statistical information about the scope of the problem decrease helping toward a single identified victim but not helping toward many non-identified victims ," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 126-140.
    9. Bullard, Olya & Penner, Sara, 2017. "A regulatory-focused perspective on philanthropy: Promotion focus motivates giving to prevention-framed causes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 173-180.
    10. Ma, Jingjing & Lin, Yu (Anna) & Ein-Gar, Danit, 2023. "Charitable maximizers: The impact of the maximizing mindset on donations to human recipients," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 417-434.
    11. van Esch, Patrick & Cui, Yuanyuan (Gina) & Jain, Shailendra Pratap, 2021. "The effect of political ideology and message frame on donation intent during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 201-213.
    12. repec:cup:judgdm:v:16:y:2021:i:5:p:1113-1154 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Hajdi Moche & Tom Gordon-Hecker & Tehila Kogut & Daniel Västfjäll, 2022. "Thinking, good and bad? Deliberative thinking and the singularity effect in charitable giving," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 17(1), pages 14-30, January.
    14. Jan Schmitz, 2021. "Is Charitable Giving a Zero-Sum Game? The Effect of Competition Between Charities on Giving Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6333-6349, October.
    15. Pellegrin, Claire & Grolleau, Gilles & Mzoughi, Naoufel & Napoleone, Claude, 2018. "Does the Identifiable Victim Effect Matter for Plants? Results From a Quasi-experimental Survey of French Farmers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 106-113.
    16. repec:cup:judgdm:v:14:y:2019:i:2:p:187-198 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kim, Minseong, 2021. "A psychological approach to Bitcoin usage behavior in the era of COVID-19: Focusing on the role of attitudes toward money," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    18. Baudier, Patricia & Kondrateva, Galina & Ammi, Chantal, 2023. "Can blockchain enhance motivation to donate: The moderating impact of religion on donors' behavior in the USA's charity organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    19. André Mata, 2016. "Proportion dominance in valuing lives: The role of deliberative thinking," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 11(5), pages 441-448, September.
    20. repec:cup:judgdm:v:13:y:2018:i:5:p:458-466 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Tehila Kogut & Ilana Ritov & Enrico Rubaltelli & Nira Liberman, 2018. "How far is the suffering? The role of psychological distance and victims’ identifiability in donation decisions," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 13(5), pages 458-466, September.
    22. Md Shahzalal & Hamedi Mohd Adnan, 2022. "Attitude, Self-Control, and Prosocial Norm to Predict Intention to Use Social Media Responsibly: From Scale to Model Fit towards a Modified Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-38, August.
    23. repec:cup:judgdm:v:11:y:2016:i:5:p:441-448 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Yong Zhang & Chuling Lin & Jialing Yang, 2019. "Time or Money? The Influence of Warm and Competent Appeals on Donation Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:irpnmk:v:17:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s12208-020-00255-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.