Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study examines individuals’ refusal to support, or rejection, of charity brands. Drawing from an online survey of 490 Australian respondents, we find a low incidence of charity rejection. At brand level, the average rejection is 3%, with Greenpeace (19%) and World Vision (9%) showing the highest levels of rejection. The majority of respondents (71%) did not reject any of the 29 charity brands listed. The results show that for any specific charity, rejection is rare and that non-awareness levels are 14 times higher than rejection levels. This has important strategic implications for recruiting supporters, with non-awareness providing greater explanation of non-support than rejection. Charities should focus on raising knowledge and salience of the charity brand rather than trying to negate objections.

Keywords

brand rejection charity support rejectors non-rejectors

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andreasen

A. R.

Kotler

(2008). Strategic marketing for nonprofit organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson–Prentice Hall.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Census community profile series. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Australian Taxation Office, Australian Government. (2011, April 6). Taxation statistics 2008-09. Retrieved from http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.aspx?doc=/content/00268761.htm&page=16

Barwise

T. P.

Ehrenberg

A. S. C.

(1985). Consumer beliefs and brand usage. Journal of the Market Research Society, 27, 81-93.

Bekkers

Wiepking

(2011). A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 924-973.

Bennett

(2009). Factors influencing donation switching behaviour among charity supporters: An empirical investigation. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 8, 329-345.

Bogomolova

(2010). Life after death? Analyzing post-defection consumer brand equity. Journal of Business Research, 63, 1135-1141. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.10.009

Bogomolova

Romaniuk

(2010). Brand equity of defectors and never boughts in a business financial market. Industrial Marketing Management, 39, 1261-1268.

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101.

10.

Burrows

(2012, July 26). How brands overcome risk of rejection. Marketing Week. Retrieved from http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/how-brands-overcome-risk-of-rejection/4002812.article

11.

Charities Aid Foundation. (2013). Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving. London: Cabinet Office, Behavioural Insights Team.

12.

Cnaan

R. A.

Jones

K. H.

Dickin

Salomon

(2011). Estimating giving and volunteering: New ways to measure the phenomena. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 497-525.

13.

Dalli

Romani

Gistri

(2006). Brand dislike: Representing the negative side of consumer preferences. Advances in Consumer Research, 33, 87-95.

14.

Diamantopoulos

Schlegelmilch

Love

(1993). Giving to charity: Determinants of cash donations through prompted giving. In Varadarajan

Jaworski

(Eds.), Marketing theory and applications (Vol. 4, pp. 133-142). Newport Beach, CA: American Marketing Association.

15.

Diamond

W. D.

Noble

S. M.

(2001). Defensive responses to charitable direct mail solicitations. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 15, 2-12.

16.

Drever

(2010). 2008-09 citizenship survey: Volunteering and charitable giving topic report (Department for Communities and Local Government, Trans.). London: Department for Communities and Local Government.

17.

Einolf

C. J.

(2011). Gender differences in the correlates of volunteering and charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40, 1092-1112.

18.

Fazio

R. H.

Zanna

M. P.

(1981). Direct experience and attitude-behavior consistency. In Berkowitz

(Ed.), Advances in experimental psychology (pp. 75-97). New York: Academic Press.

19.

Gensch

D. H.

Ghose

(1992). Elimination by dimensions. Journal of Marketing Research, 29, 417-429.

20.

Giving USA Foundation. (2011). Giving USA 2011: The annual report on philanthropy for the year 2010. Indiana: Author.

21.

Guy

B. S.

Patton

W. E.

(1989). The marketing of altruistic causes: Understanding why people help. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 6, 19-31.

22.

Heller

Levin

I. P.

Goransson

(2002). Selection of strategies for narrowing choice options: Antecedents and consequences. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 89, 1194-1213.

23.

Hoek

Dunnett

Wright

Gendall

(2000). Descriptive and evaluative attributes: What relevance to marketers? Journal of Product & Brand Management, 9, 415-435.

24.

Hogg

M. K.

(1998). Anti-constellations: Exploring the impact of negation on consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 14, 133-158.

25.

Huber

Klein

N. M.

(1991). Adapting Cutoffs to the Choice Environment: The Effects of Attribute Correlation and Reliability. Journal of Consumer Research, 18, 246-257.

26.

Huber

V. L.

Neale

M. A.

Northcraft

G. B.

(1987). Decision bias and personnel selection strategies. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 40, 136-147.

27.

Hustinx

(2010). I Quit, Therefore I Am? Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 39, 236-255.

28.

Hyllegard

K. H.

Yan

R. N.

Ogle

J. P.

Attmann

(2011). The influence of gender, social cause, charitable support, and message appeal on Gen Y’s responses to cause-related marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 27, 100-123.

29.

Iyer

Muncy

J. A.

(2009). Purpose and object of anti-consumption. Journal of Business Research, 62, 160-168.

30.

Laran

Wilcox

(2011). Choice, rejection, and elaboration on preference-inconsistent alternatives. Journal of Consumer Research, 38, 229-241.

31.

Laroche

Kim

Matsui

(2003). Which decision heuristics are used in consderation set formation? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 20, 192-209.

32.

Laroche

Rosenblatt

J. A.

Brisoux

J. E.

(1986). Consumer brand categorisation: Basic framework and managerial implications. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 4, 60-74.

33.

Leary

M. R.

Kowalski

R. M.

(1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 34-47.

34.

Lee

Motion

Conroy

(2009). Anti-consumption and brand avoidance. Journal of Business Research, 62, 169-180.

35.

Levin

I. P.

Prosansky

C. M.

Heller

Brunick

B. M.

(2001). Prescreening of choice options in “positive” and “negative” decision-making tasks. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 14, 279-293.

36.

Lussier

D. A.

Olshavsky

R. W.

(1979). Task complexity and contingent processing in brand choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 154-165.

37.

Lyons

McGregor-Lowndes

O’Donoghue

(2006). Researching giving and volunteering in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 41, 385-397.

38.

Lyons

Passey

(2005). Australians giving and volunteering 2004. In Giving Australia: Research on philanthropy in Australia (pp. 1-50). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia: Department of Family, Community and Indigenous Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/ga_volunteering.pdf

39.

Mackoy

R. D.

Calantone

Droge

(1995). Environmental marketing: Bridging the divide between the consumption culture and environmentalism. In Polonsky

M. J.

Mintu-Wimsatt

A. T.

(Eds.), Environmental marketing: Strategies, practice, theory, and research. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

40.

Marquis

Battilana

(2009). Acting globally but thinking locally? The enduring influence of local communities on organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 29, 283-302.

41.

McClelland

Brooks

A. C.

(2004). What is the real relationship between income and charitable giving? Public Finance Review, 32, 483-497.

42.

Merchant

Ford

Sargeant

(2010). “Don’t forget to say thank you”: The effect of an acknowledgement on donor relationships. Journal of Marketing Management, 26, 593-611.

43.

Michel

Rieunier

(2011). Nonprofit brand image and typicality influences on charitable giving. Journal of Business Research, 65, 701-707.

44.

Nagpal

Krishnamurthy

(2008). Attribute conflict in consumer decision making: The role of task compatibility. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 696-705.

45.

Narayana

C. L.

Markin

R. T.

(1975). Consumer behavior and product performance: An alternative conceptualization. Journal of Marketing, 39, 1-6.

46.

National Council for Voluntary Organisations, & Charities Aid Foundation UK. (2012). UK giving 2012: An overview of charitable giving in the UK. Author: London. Retrieved from http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/UKGiving2012Full.pdf

47.

Nenycz-Thiel

Romaniuk

(2011). The nature and incidence of private label rejection. Australasian Marketing Journal, 19, 93-99.

48.

Oliver

DeSarbo

(1988). Response determinants in satisfaction judgements. Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 495-507.

49.

Pantea

M.-C.

(2012). Young people in cross-national volunteering: Perceptions of unfairness. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30, 564-581.

50.

Piff

P. K.

Kraus

M. W.

Cote

Cheng

B. H.

Keltner

(2010). Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 771-784.

51.

Prince

R. A.

File

K. M.

(1994). The seven faces of philanthropy: A new approach to cultivating major donors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

52.

Productivity Commission. (2010). Contribution of the not-for-profit sector research report. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Commonwealth of Australia.

53.

Rajan

S. S.

Pink

G. H.

Dow

W. H.

(2009). Sociodemographic and personality characteristics of Canadian donors contributing to international charity. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38, 413-440.

54.

Roeger

Blackwood

Pettijohn

(2011). The nonprofit sector in brief: Public charities, giving, and volunteering, 2011. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

55.

Sandıkcı

Ö.

Ekici

(2008). Politically motivated brand rejection. Journal of Business Research, 62, 208-217.

56.

Sargeant

(1999). Charitable giving: Towards a model of donor behaviour. Journal of Marketing Management, 15, 215-238.

57.

Sargeant

(2001a). Managing donor defection: Why should donors stop giving? New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising, 32, 59-74.

58.

Sargeant

(2001b). Relationship fundraising: How to keep donors loyal. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 12, 177-192.

59.

Sargeant

Ford

J. B.

Hudson

(2008). Charity brand personality: The relationship with giving behavior. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 37, 468-491.

60.

Sargeant

Lee

(2004). Trust and relationship commitment in the United Kingdom voluntary sector: Determinants of donor behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 21, 613-635.

61.

Scaife

W. A.

McDonald

Smyllie

(2011). A transformational role: Donor and charity perspectives on major giving in Australia. Brisbane: The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology.

62.

Schlegelmilch

B. B.

Diamantopoulos

Love

(1997). Characteristics affecting charitable donations: Empirical evidence from Britain. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 3, 14-28.

63.

Shafir

(1993). Choosing versus rejecting: Why some options are both better and worse than others. Memory and Cognition, 21, 546-557.

64.

Sherlock

Gravelle

(2009). An overview of the nonprofit and charitable sector: Congressional research service. Washington. Retrieved from http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40919.pdf

65.

Sherry

J. F.

Jr. (1983). Gift giving in anthropological perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 157-168.

66.

Stride

Lee

(2007). No logo? No way. Branding in the non-profit sector. Journal of Marketing Management, 23, 107-122.

67.

Teas

R. K.

Agarwal

(2000). The effects of extrinsic product cues on consumers’ perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 28, 278-290.

68.

Truong

Romaniuk

Nenycz-Thiel

(2011, November 28-30). The incidence of brand rejection in FMCG categories. Paper presented at the ANZMAC, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

69.

White

Peloza

(2009). Self-benefit versus other-benefit marketing appeals: Their effectiveness in generating charitable support. Journal of Marketing, 73, 109-124.

70.

Winchester

Romaniuk

Bogomolova

(2008). Positive and negative brand beliefs and brand defection/uptake. European Journal of Marketing, 42, 553-570.

71.

Women’s Philanthropy Institute. (2010). Women give 2010 part 2: Causes women support new research about women and giving. Indianapolis: Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

72.

Yaniv

Schul

(1997). Elimination and inclusion procedures in judgment. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 10, 211-220.

73.

Yaniv

Schul

(2000). Acceptance and elimination procedures in choice: Noncomplementarity and the role of implied status quo. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82, 293-313.

Barriers to Increasing Donor Support

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References