In this article, the authors propose that in the long run, a nonprofit organization with supportively oriented positioning (e.g., promoting a cause) is likely to survive longer and achieve more donations compared with a nonprofit with a combative orientation (e.g., fighting against something). To test this proposition, the authors adopt a three-pronged approach that (1) uses publicly available financial data from nonprofits’ tax filings over a ten-year period, (2) measures annual donor pledges from a field study with a registered nonprofit organization, and (3) examines actual donation behavior of participants in a longitudinal lab study. Moreover, the authors test this proposition for donations of money as well as time. They consider various theoretical mechanisms that might cause the proposed effect, such as regulatory focus theory, inertia in giving, and the preponderance of supportive charities.
AllisonPaul D. (2010), Survival Analysis Using SAS: A Practical Guide.Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
2.
AndreoniJames (1990), “Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving,”Economic Journal, 100(401), 464–77.
3.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014), “Overview of BLS Statistics on Inflation and Prices,” (accessed May 31, 2014), [available at http://www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm].
4.
CarrollKevin J. (2003), “On the Use and Utility of the Weibull Model in the Analysis of Survival Data,”Controlled Clinical Trials, 24(6), 682–701.
CourseyDon L., HovisJohn L., and SchulzeWilliam D. (1987), “The Disparity Between Willingness to Accept and Willingness to Pay Measures of Value,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1(2), 679–90.
7.
DekimpeMarnik G., and HanssensDominique M. (2000), “Time-Series Models in Marketing: Past, Present and Future,”International Journal of Research in Marketing, 17(2), 183–93.
8.
DharRavi (1997), “Consumer Preference for a No-Choice Option,”Journal of Consumer Research, 24(2), 215–31.
9.
DixonMichelle (1997), “Small and Medium-Sized Charities Need a Strong Brand Too: Crisis’ Experience,”International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 2(1), 52–57.
10.
FishbachAyelet, and DharRavi (2008), “Dynamics of Goal-Based Choice: Toward an Understanding of How Goals Commit Versus Liberate Choice,” in Handbook of Consumer Psychology, CurtisP. Haugtvedt, HerrPaul M., and KardesFrank R., eds. New York: Taylor & Francis, 611–37.
11.
FishbachAyelet, ShahJames Y., and KruglanskiArie W. (2004), “Emotional Transfer in Goal Systems,”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(6), 723–38.
12.
HayesAndrew, and KrippendorffKlaus (2007), “Answering the Call for a Standard Reliability Measure for Coding Data,”Communication Methods and Measures, 1(1), 77–89.
13.
HeckmanJames (1979), “Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error,”Econometrica, 47(1), 153–61.
14.
HendersonRobin, DigglePeter, and DobsonAngela (2000), “Joint Modeling of Longitudinal Measurements and Event Time Data,”Biostatistics, 1(4), 465–80.
15.
HigginsE. Tory (1998), “Promotion and Prevention: Regulatory Focus as a Motivational Principle,”Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 1–46.
16.
HigginsE. Tory, ShahJames, and FriedmanRonald (1997), “Emotional Responses to Goal Attainment: Strength of Regulatory Focus as Moderator,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(3), 515–25.
17.
IbrahimJoseph G., ChuHaitao, and ChenLiddy M. (2010), “Basic Concepts and Methods for Joint Models of Longitudinal and Survival Data,”Journal of Clinical Oncology, 28(16), 2796–2801.
18.
IdsonLorraine Chen, LibermanNira, and Tory HigginsE. (2000), “Distinguishing Gains from Nonlosses and Losses from Non-gains: A Regulatory Focus Perspective on Hedonic Intensity,”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(3), 252–74.
JacobyJacob, SzybilloGeorge J., and BerningCarol K. (1976), “Time and Consumer Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Overview,”Journal of Consumer Research, 2(4), 320–38.
21.
JamesHarvey S. (2006), “Self-Selection Bias in Business Ethics Research,”Business Ethics Quarterly, 16(4), 559–77.
22.
JohnsonRonald C., ThomsonCalvin W., and FrinckeGerald (1960), “Word Values, Word Frequency, and Visual Duration Thresholds,”Psychological Review, 67(5), 332–42.
23.
KloumannIsabel M., DanforthChristopher M., HarrisKameron Decker, BlissCatherine A., and DoddsPeter Sheridan (2012), “Positivity of the English Language,”PLoS One, 7(1), e29484.
24.
LittellRamon C., MillikenGeorge A., StroupWalter W., and WolfingerRussell D. (1996), SAS System for Mixed Models.Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
25.
LombardMatthew, Snyder-DuchJennifer, and BrackenCheryl Campanella (2002), “Content Analysis in Mass Communication: Assessment and Reporting of Intercoder Reliability,”Human Communication Research, 28(4), 587–604.
26.
MaddalaGeorge S. (1983), Limited-Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
27.
MoglinerCassie, AakerJennifer L., and PenningtonGinger L. (2008), “Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention,”Journal of Consumer Research, 34(5), 670–81.
28.
MorganRobert M., and HuntShelby D. (1994), “The Commitment–Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing,”Journal of Marketing, 58(July), 20–38.
29.
PenningtonGinger L., and RoeseNeal (2003), “Regulatory Focus and Temporal Distance,”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39(6), 563–76.
30.
PhamMichel Tuan, and Tory HigginsE. (2005), “Promotion and Prevention in Consumer Decision-Making,” in Inside Consumption: Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires, RatneshwarS., and MickDavid Glen, eds. New York: Routledge, 8–43.
31.
RitchieRobin J.B., SwamiSanjeev, and WeinbergCharles B. (1999), “A Brand New World for Nonprofits,”International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 4(1), 26–42.
32.
Rose-AckermanSusan (1996), “Altruism, Nonprofits, and Economic Theory,”Journal of Economic Literature, 34(2), 701–728.
33.
ShinJuh Hyun (2009), “Application of Repeated-Measures Analysis of Variance and Hierarchical Linear Model in Nursing Research,”Nursing Research, 58(3), 211–17.
34.
SmallDeborah A., LoewensteinGeorge, and SlovicPaul (2007), “Sympathy and Callousness: The Impact of Deliberative Thought on Donations to Identifiable and Statistical Victims,”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(2), 143–53.
35.
SmitsJeroen (2001), “Career Migration, Self-Selection and the Earnings of Married Men and Women in the Netherlands, 1981–93,”Urban Studies, 38(3), 541–62.
36.
SpenceKenneth W. (1956), Behavioral Theory and Conditioning.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
37.
StevensJames P. (1992), Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences, 2nd ed.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
38.
TabachnickBarbara G., and FidellLinda S. (2002), Using Multivariate Statistics, 5th ed.New York: Pearson Education.
39.
TverskyAmos, and KahnemanDaniel (1981), “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice,”Science, 211(4481), 453–58.
VellaFrancis (1998), “Estimating Models with Sample Selection Bias: A Survey,”Journal of Human Resources, 33(1), 127–69.
42.
WulfsohnMichael S., and TsiatisAnastasios A. (1997), “A Joint Model for Survival and Longitudinal Data Measured with Error,”Biometrics, 53(1), 330–39.
43.
ZajoncRobert B. (1968), “Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2, Part 2), 1–27.
44.
ZhouRongrong, and PhamMichel Tuan (2004), “Promotion and Prevention Across Mental Accounts: When Financial Products Dictate Consumers’ Investment Goals,”Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 125–35.
