Understanding Contextual Determinants of Likely Online Advocacy by Millennial Donors

Abstract

Increasing online advocacy by donors has important implications for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Through a lens of self-disclosure theory, this current research combines data across three quantitative cross-sectional surveys of millennial Australian donors who donate blood, time, and/or money to better understand how NPOs can encourage existing donors to engage in greater online advocacy. Findings demonstrate (a) the importance of social norms and psychological involvement in online advocacy decisions, (b) that “firm-generated” marketing effectiveness can vary by the content provided by NPOs, and (c) that not all donation types are equal when encouraging donors to be advocates. The work contributes by broadening the scope of existing models of online brand advocacy to a donation context by examining “firm-generated user-shared” content and millennials’ social media use for prosocial behaviors.