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

Author

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    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.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. 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.
    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.

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