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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 527-547 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2020 |
Keywords
- Donation
- Nonprofit
- Online fundraising
- Optimal matching theory
- Social media
- Social support
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
- Marketing