The effect of corporate–nonprofit partnerships on intention to donate and volunteer: It's the why not the what

Abstract

Increasingly, nonprofits and corporations publicly communicate about their partnerships. Guided by Information Integration Theory, this paper examines how information about a nonprofit's relationship with a corporation relates to individuals' intention to donate and volunteer. This research used a two-study experimental design. Study 1 (N = 966) examined how partnership explanations and evaluation were related to the two outcomes. Study 2 (N = 970) further examined whether specific information about partnerships, including type, duration, and communication source, was integrated with existing knowledge to relate to the outcomes. Partnership evaluation consistently related to stakeholders' intention to support nonprofits, and it mediated the effect of partnership explanations on the intention to volunteer. Furthermore, partnership type was significantly related to the two outcomes, while duration and source of communication were not.