This study used a social identity approach to examine how non-profit organizations (NPOs) may motivate people that have different identity characteristics than their existing volunteers to become a...Show moreThis study used a social identity approach to examine how non-profit organizations (NPOs) may motivate people that have different identity characteristics than their existing volunteers to become a new volunteer for the organization. It was proposed that for this target group recruitment messages of NPOs that address positive social identity characteristics would instill feelings of anticipated respect and organizational trust, and via these mediators would increase willingness to become a volunteer, positive word of mouth, and organizational attractiveness. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a study with a 4-cell between-subjects experimental design (organizational morality, organizational warmth, communications about the social identity value vs. control condition). Our sample consisted of members of the general public, recruited through Academic Prolific, that were visibly different from the volunteers of the organization presented (N = 184). Analysis of variance first showed that the manipulations of organizational warmth and communications about social identity value were successful, while the manipulation of organizational morality didn’t work. Further, analysis of variance revealed that perceptions of organizational warmth lead to organizational trust and anticipated respect, while communications about social identity value only triggered feelings of anticipated respect. Mediation regression analysis showed that recruitment messages underlining organizational warmth lead to organizational attractiveness perceptions via both mediators, and lead to positive word of mouth through organizational trust. Communications about social identity value lead to positive word of mouth via anticipated respect. No indirect link between positive characteristics and willingness to become a volunteer was found. Theoretical and practical contributions, limitations, and suggestions for new research are discussed.Show less
This research addresses the willingness to join a nonprofit organization as a volunteer of people who perceive that their social identity is different from the social identity of the current...Show moreThis research addresses the willingness to join a nonprofit organization as a volunteer of people who perceive that their social identity is different from the social identity of the current volunteers of the organization. Specifically, a social identity approach was applied, and it was predicted that for non-volunteers who have atypical social identities the organizational warmth, organizational morality, and organizational communications about the value of social identity, would influence the motivation to join the non-profit organization through psychological safety and organizational trust as mediators. The online research, for which non-volunteers who have atypical social identities were recruited as research participants via the Academic Prolific Online Platform (n = 184), had a 4-cell between subjects’ experimental design (organizational warmth, organizational morality, communications of social identity value versus ‘Wikipedia information’ control condition). The participants were presented the US Fire Brigade as type of non-profit organization, were thereafter randomly allocated across the experimental conditions, and subsequently completed a questionnaire that recorded the variables of the research. The data was analyzed using one-way ANOVAs and multiple mediating regressions analyses. ANOVAs showed that the manipulations of organizational warmth and the organizational communications about the value of social identity were successful, but also that the manipulation of organizational morality was not successful. Subsequently, a one-way ANOVA showed that organizational warmth and the organizational communications about the value of social identity instilled trust in the organization and sense of psychological safety in the participants. Thereafter, mediation regression analyses showed that organizational warmth and organizational communications about social identity value related significantly and indirectly related to the motivation to join the non-profit organization as a volunteer through organizational trust and sense of psychological safety. The implications, limitations, and suggestions for further research, of the study are discussed.Show less
