Firm-Created and User-Generated Content as Drivers of Donation Intention: The Mediating Role of Empathy
Abstract
An increased use of social media by non-profit organizations (NPOs) has changed the way people learn about and support charitable causes. Little empirical research has been done to comprehend how various social media content types affect donation intention through psychological pathways in NPO context. Drawing on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study sought to test a model which explains whether and how FCC & UGC through empathy affect donation intention. An online self-reported questionnaire was distributed to the followers of chosen NPOs’ social media pages as part of a quantitative research design. Results of a sample of 307 analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed significant positive effect of FCC and UGC on donation intention. Furthermore, results showed empathy to be a significant psychological pathway explaining the effect of both FCC and UGC on donation intention. The study contributes to the body of knowledge and practices in relation to social media driven donation intention and empathy’s important explanatory role. The results provide useful insights to NPO managers and social media strategists in understanding how specific social media contents are capable to influence internal psychological and behavioral states of potential donors.
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