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Social Media Fundraising: How Message Framing and Typeface Design Affect Donation Intentions

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Dissertation(1.67 MB)

Date

2024

Authors

Zhou, Jingwei

Supervisor

Kim, Jungkeun

Item type

Dissertation

Degree name

Bachelor of Business (Honours)

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Volume Title

Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

With the shift from offline to online donation methods and the rapid growth of social media users, social media platforms have become essential tools for Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) to attract potential donors and raise funds. However, fundraising on social media is not always successful, and NPOs have yet to fully leverage the advantages of these platforms. The effectiveness of fundraising messages on social media platforms remains a subject of ongoing research, particularly concerning the interaction between textual and visual elements. Therefore, this study investigates message framing (gain-framed and loss-framed) and its interaction with typeface design (typewritten and handwritten) in influencing donation intentions in social media fundraising campaigns, with a specific focus on the mediating role of perceived credibility. This study employed a quantitative experimental design. Specifically, a 2 (gain-framed vs. loss-framed message) × 2 (handwritten vs. typewritten typeface) between-subjects experiment was conducted through an online survey, involving 275 participants recruited via CloudResearch’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) Toolkit. The collected data was analysed using IBM SPSS statistical software. The results of the study reveal several noteworthy findings. First, loss-framed messages were found to elicit higher donation intentions compared to gain-framed messages. Second, the interaction between message framing and typeface design had a significant impact on donation intentions. Specifically, for loss-framed messages, typewritten typefaces led to higher donation intentions compared to handwritten typefaces. In contrast, under gain-framed messages, there was no significant difference between handwritten and typewritten typefaces in enhancing donation intentions. Finally, results from the moderated mediation analysis indicated that perceived credibility is the underlying psychological mechanism driving this interaction effect. The findings of this study have significant theoretical and practical implications. The study provides new evidence for the effects of message framing in the context of social media fundraising. Moreover, by exploring the interaction between typeface design and message framing on donation intentions, it extends the visual design, particularly typeface design, into the domains of persuasion research and social media fundraising. Identifying perceived credibility as a mediating factor adds a new dimension to social media fundraising research. Practically, the results provide novel insights for NPOs and social media marketers aiming to optimise their fundraising strategies. By strategically using loss-framed messages and carefully selecting typeface design, organisations can increase the credibility and effectiveness of their fundraising messages, leading to increased donation intentions and fundraising success.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18311

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Bachelor with Honours Dissertations - open access