How preexisting beliefs and message involvement drive charitable donations: an integrated model

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individuals respond to messages asking for donations in broadcast advertising. It does so by considering both preexisting attitudes and beliefs related to donating, as well as message processing. The goal is to uncover messages that may help nonprofit organisations increase donations. Design/methodology/approach The research combines the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to measure preexisting beliefs and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to measure involvement in an investigation of donation responses to broadcast-quality advertisements developed by a professional ad agency featuring the following two messages: one that leverages social norms and another that legitimises minimal giving. Two studies collected data from a total of 544 respondents in two between-subjects 2 × 2 × 2 experiments. Findings Injunctive norm messages affect the intended donation behaviour of individuals who are pre-disposed to donating, but only if they are highly involved with the ad. Social legitimisation messages affect donations from individuals who look to referents to direct behaviour, but unlike what was expected, only by those not highly involved with the ad. Similarly, individuals who do not think they can donate increased donations when they saw the legitimisation message and had low advertisement involvement. Research limitations/implications Results extend the ELM-TPB integrated framework by discovering when and how involvement drives intended donation behaviour. The research also sheds light on message processing by focussing on the preexisting characteristics of recipients. Practical implications The results provide nonprofit managers with strategies to increase donations with targeted messages. Those who pay attention to the ad and have a positive attitude toward giving are going to donate if they are told others support the cause. Therefore, the focus should be on those who are not involved with the ad but still believe giving is appropriate. Originality/value This research is the first to use the ELM-TPB framework to discover that ELM has varying utilities and values from TPB in different ad contexts.

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“…Identifying specific characteristics of an individual or situation that can affect involvement may lead to strategies that can influence an increase or decrease in level of involvement (Day et al, 1995 ) and ultimately affect donation intention. This is because strategically targeting audiences based on involvement may lead to better fundraising results (Grau & Folse, 2007 ; Van Steenburg & Spears, 2021 ). Nonprofit marketing managers need to understand audience involvement by determining what is personally relevant to them in terms of a brand, behavior, event, situation, social environment, or a combination of those in order to develop the best strategies and tactical executions (Peter & Olson, 1994 ).…”

“…Recent research has found that those who are involved in an advertisement and have a positive attitude toward charitable giving are going to donate if they are told that others support the cause (Van Steenburg & Spears, 2021 ). Messages targeting those not involved with the ad but still believe giving is appropriate behavior, may turn them into donors if coupled with messages about community support for the NPO.…”

“…Messages targeting those not involved with the ad but still believe giving is appropriate behavior, may turn them into donors if coupled with messages about community support for the NPO. Nonprofit managers can increase involvement through repeated campaign messages, the use of positive, rather than negative, message framing, and leveraging central cues (e.g., narratives based on statistics) that motivate audiences to process the information being communicated rather than peripheral cues (e.g., celebrity spokespeople) (Van Steenburg & Spears, 2021 ). While creating surprise through unusual and unexpected messages gets attention and increases involvement (Cockrill & Parsonage, 2016 ), nonprofit managers cannot make audiences too uncomfortable because it may lead to a negative emotional response (Garg & Lerner, 2013 ).…”

“…Advertising messages that make minimal donations acceptable (e.g., “even a penny helps”) increase donations (Cialdini & Schroeder, 1976 ), but only for those not involved in the ad (Van Steenburg & Spears, 2021 ). Therefore, minimal giving messages might have a positive effect on donations when leveraged through public service announcements, which are often scheduled by broadcasters at times of low viewership.…”

“…Therefore, minimal giving messages might have a positive effect on donations when leveraged through public service announcements, which are often scheduled by broadcasters at times of low viewership. Nonprofit managers must again guard against potential negative effects as research has found such messages suppress giving among those paying attention to the stimulus (Van Steenburg & Spears, 2021 ), making this a viable strategy for donor prospects, but not regular donors.…”