The art of non-profit persuasion- Affective complexity and the moderating role of simplification and altruism on donation intentions

The art of non-profit

persuasion-Affective complexity and the

moderating role of simplification

and altruism on donation

intentions

Marketing

1. Introduction – Storytelling and affective complexity



Charities face challenge: Ask people to do or donate something without a

clear direct return !



Persuasive techniques  Storytelling



Aim: Evoke affective reactions



Problem: Creation of coherent mental image  Affective complexity



Solution: Use of single, individual victims as representatives in storytelling

non-profit advertisements?

2. Literature review-Storytelling and affective complexity

 Storytelling charitable advertisements  Display need to consumer  providing a coherent story about the difficulty of protagonists  Enable imagination

 Unbalanced state within reader's mind  Reader steps into story, helps protagonist and reduces his own tension by donating to a cause.

 Affective complexity

 Representing single, individual victims (compared to a group) increases affective reactions  Why?

 1. Creation of a coherent mental image: I_{nformation is principally more clearly when it}

is concrete and psychologically closer to the observer

 2. “drop-in-the-bucket effect”

 H1: A storytelling message containing low affective complexity results in a higher

2. Literature review-Simplification

 Health education materials: People of all literacy levels prefer simple written materials over complex materials  increased likelihood of patients acting in a way as suggested in educative materials

 Why? Simplified materials  increased readability

 Unnecessary words and distracting idiosyncratic language avoided, shorter words and sentences

 Reduces the cognitive load for the reader  faster and easier to read

 Positively impacts a readers’ feelings and attitudes towards the material  Emphatic response.

 More or less coherent image based on affective complexity  Emphatic response

 H2: A simplified storytelling donation advertisement results in a higher donation intention

than a non-simplified storytelling donation advertisement.

 H3: A storytelling advertisement containing low affective complexity compared to high

1. Literature review- Altruism

 Altruism can be described as acting in a selfless concern for the well-being of

others.

 In order to evoke this act of pro-social behavior, the storytelling technique is

used for assistance to contribute/donate to a specific cause.

 Higher empathic concerns led to higher total contributions, which is consistent

with the view that people with high empathic concern scores have the intention to increase the welfare of unfortunate others.

 Affective complexity: Does the amount of emphatic concern depend on the

amount of a more or less created coherent picture?

 H4: Individuals containing high altruistic character traits have higher donation

intentions than individuals containing low altruistic character traits.

 H5: A storytelling advertisement containing low affective complexity compared

3. Methodology: Research Design and population

 Random allocation of participants (internal validity)

 Ads based on charity organization S.O.S Kinderdorpen (authenticity, external validity)

 English Qualtrics questionnaire  Adults above 18 (N = 219)

3. Methodology: Measurements and manipulation check

 IV: Affective complexity Change of pictures, pronouns  Moderator: Simplification (Worrall and Hoffmann, 2004)

 Moderator: Altruism (Personality item Pool, 2009), 5-point Likert scale  DV 1: Donation intention (Sia et. al, 2009), 7-point Likert scale

 DV 2: Amount donated (Slider ranging from 1-10 euros)  Demographics: gender, age, education

 Manipulation check: 1. Pre-test Flesch-Kincaid Grade level (4th _{and 6}th _{grade readability)}

 Readability: (1) How you perceive the readability of the advertisement? (interval scale, 1=difficult to 5=very easy) ANOVA

4. Results and

discussion

 H1: A storytelling message containing low affective complexity results in a higher donation intention than a message containing high affective complexity.  Insignificant !

4. Results and

discussion

 H2: A simplified storytelling donation advertisement results in a higher donation intention than a

non-simplified storytelling

donation advertisement.  Insignificant !

4. Results and

discussion

 H3: A storytelling

advertisement containing low affective complexity compared to high affective complexity leads to higher donation intentions,

particularly if the

advertisement has been simplified.

 H3: A storytelling advertisement containing low affective complexity

compared to high affective complexity leads to higher donation intentions (amounts), particularly if the advertisement has been simplified.

 Significant ! Reason: Sample mainly consisted of the social environment related to the author

 H4: Individuals containing high altruistic character traits have higher donation intentions (amounts) than individuals containing less altruistic character traits.  Significant !

 H5: A storytelling advertisement containing low affective complexity

compared to high affective complexity leads to higher donation intentions (amounts), particularly among individuals with a comparable higher

degree of altruism.  Insignificant !

b

SE (b) Wald

p

Exp (B) (95% CI)

Constant

-4.64

Affective complexity* simplification 1.26

.58

4.77

.03

3.54

(1.14, 11)

Altruism

1.20

.35

11.84

.01

3.33 (1.68, 6,6)

Altruism*affective complexity

-.29

.52

.317

.57

.75

(.27, 2.05)

Thank you for your attention.