ABSTRACT

Does seeing a friend supporting a nonprofit organization on social media affect one’s subsequent behavior on social media? How is it different from seeing a friend supporting a luxury or utilitarian company on social media? In three experiments, we answer these questions by examining the differential influences of peer endorsement types (i.e., Facebook vs. offline social engagement) on one’s subsequent social behavior on Facebook. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 show that for a nonprofit organization, peer-influence is more beneficial when encountered in an offline social engagement (e.g., wearing a cause pin as a result of donation) than viewed on Facebook. However, for a utilitarian company, peer-influence is more beneficial when it happens on Facebook than offline social engagement. For luxury companies, there is no differential effect of peer-influence on Facebook or face-to-face. Drawing on costly signaling theory, Experiment 2 demonstrates that perceived altruism is the underlying mechanism for the positive effect of offline social engagement for nonprofit organizations. Experiment 3 introduces the self-company connection as the boundary condition and shows that the positive effect of peers’ offline social endorsement for nonprofits (and Facebook endorsement for utilitarian companies) only emerges when the self-company connection to the nonprofits is low.

摘要

看到朋友在社交媒体上支持非营利组织会影响一个人随后在社交媒体上的行为吗？这与在社交媒体上看到朋友支持奢侈品或实用公司有什么不同？在三个实验中，我们通过检查同伴认可类型（即 Facebook 与离线社交参与）对一个人随后在 Facebook 上的社交行为的不同影响来回答这些问题。实验 1、2 和 3 表明，对于非营利组织而言，与在 Facebook 上看到的相比，在离线社交活动中遇到同伴影响（例如，由于捐赠而佩戴原因别针）更有益。然而，对于一家功利主义的公司来说，在 Facebook 上发生的同行影响比线下社交参与更有益。对于奢侈品公司，Facebook 或面对面的同侪影响力没有差别。利用代价高昂的信号理论，实验 2 表明，感知利他主义是非营利组织线下社会参与产生积极影响的潜在机制。实验 3 引入自我公司联系作为边界条件，并表明同行对非营利组织的线下社会背书（以及 Facebook 对功利主义公司的背书）的积极影响只有在自我公司与非营利组织的联系较低时才会出现。