Abstract
Prior research has established that it is valuable for members to have strong organizational identification with nonprofit service organizations. However, research has not examined whether and how members are influenced by other members of a nonprofit. This paper analyzes how peer identification influences member retention and donations using survey data and actual member behavior. It distinguishes identification with the organization from identification with peers. The theory-based econometric model shows that the effect of a member’s peer and organizational identification on the likelihood of he/she will remain a member depends on the member’s relationship stage. Organizational identification has a large effect on member retention in the earlier periods of membership. However, for members of eight years or more, the favorable effect of peer identification becomes larger. Results also show that peer identification has a negative impact on donations whereas organizational identification has a positive effect regardless of stage of the member-nonprofit relationship. This paper also introduces a new construct, peer identity overlap, which influences peer identification. The article discusses how nonprofit service organizations can foster support and affirmation among members, value alignment among members, peer identity overlap, and organizational identification, as well as manage different stages of the relationship.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 187-205 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Journal of Service Research |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2021 |
Keywords
- customer retention
- donations
- engagement
- loyalty
- memberships
- nonprofits
- organizational identification
- peer identification
- peers
- relationships
- social identity theory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Information Systems
- Sociology and Political Science
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
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Dive into the research topics of 'Member Retention and Donations in Nonprofit Service Organizations: The Balance Between Peer and Organizational Identification'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Datasets
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Member Retention and Donations in Nonprofit Service Organizations: The Balance Between Peer and Organizational Identification
Fang, D. (Creator), Fombelle, P. W. (Creator) & Bolton, R. N. (Creator), SAGE Journals, 2020
DOI: 10.25384/sage.c.5047420, https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Member_Retention_and_Donations_in_Nonprofit_Service_Organizations_The_Balance_Between_Peer_and_Organizational_Identification/5047420
Dataset
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Supplemental Material, Executive_Summary_-_500_Words_4-27-20 - Member Retention and Donations in Nonprofit Service Organizations: The Balance Between Peer and Organizational Identification
Fombelle, P. W. (Contributor), Fang, D. (Contributor) & Bolton, R. N. (Contributor), figshare SAGE Publications, Jan 1 2020
DOI: 10.25384/sage.12600610.v1, https://doi.org/10.25384%2Fsage.12600610.v1
Dataset
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Member Retention and Donations in Nonprofit Service Organizations: The Balance Between Peer and Organizational Identification
Fang, D. (Creator), Fombelle, P. W. (Creator) & Bolton, R. N. (Creator), figshare SAGE Publications, 2020
DOI: 10.25384/sage.c.5047420.v1, https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Member_Retention_and_Donations_in_Nonprofit_Service_Organizations_The_Balance_Between_Peer_and_Organizational_Identification/5047420/1
Dataset