Sridhar Samu

Dimensions of Business and Nonprofit Collaborative Relationships

SUMMARY Collaborative relationships between businesses and nonprofits have grown tremendously in the last few years. These cross-sector alliances are different from within-sector alliances (business-business alliances) which has been examined in prior research, and include corporate philanthropy, corporate foundations, licensing agreements, sponsorships, transaction based promotions, joint issue promotions, and joint ventures. This paper discusses the growth, size, and scope of various business and nonprofit collaborative relationships and develops a typology of these relationships. Motivations for business-nonprofit collaborations and expected outcomes are presented as well as fruitful topics for further investigation.

Volunteer Service as Symbolic Consumption: Gender and Occupational Differences in Volunteering

Volunteering is presented as part of the resource attraction function of nonprofit marketing, a type of helping behavior, and a form of symbolic consumption. From a sample of volunteers, findings show that male and non-working volunteers are more likely than female and working volunteers to spend more time on volunteering and to volunteer for more number of organizations. Females and working volunteers are significantly more empathetic than males and non-working volunteers. Male and female volunteers and working and nonworking volunteers are also differentiated in terms of their values. Managerial implications are discussed.

Nonprofit-Business Alliance Model: Formation and Outcomes

SUMMARY A model describing the formation and outcomes of alliances between nonprofit organizations and business firms is presented in the following pages. In order to have a better understanding of the process through which Nonprofit-Business Alliances (NBAs) are formed, various factors that influence the formation of such alliances are identified and their effects explained. A nonprofit-business alliance model is developed and propositions are derived. The model is also extended to include the factors that influence the outcomes of NBAs

Impact of brand‐building activities and retailer‐based brand equity on retailer brand communities

Purpose – Retailer brand communities exist between a franchisor brand and individual retailers, with retailer‐based brand equity and brand‐building activities being key drivers of their success. This paper aims to introduce retailer‐based brand equity and examine its relationship with brand‐building activities and retailer brand community.Design/methodology/approach – Individual stores in a variable format franchise from the retail hardware industry were studied at annual conventions in two North American cities. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and regression.Findings – Results show that retailer‐based brand equity mediates the relationship between brand‐building activities and brand community identification and demonstrates the importance of branding in retailing contexts. The franchisees continuation as part of the retailer brand community is influenced by the retailer‐based brand equity, with increased identification leading to increased purchase and higher performance.Resear...

The Effect of Country-Related Brand Associations and Product Attributes on Attitude toward Unfamiliar Foreign Brands: A Schema Congruity Perspective

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to examine which combinations of country-related brand associations and product attributes are critical when a new foreign brand is introduced into the market. Study 1 shows that moderately incongruent combinations of country of brand origin and country of manufacture result in the most positive attitude toward the brand. Study 2 shows that when information on tangible product attributes is available to resolve the incongruity between country of brand origin and country of manufacture, strength of product attributes determines attitude toward the brand. Strength of product attributes, however, becomes irrelevant when consumers have a positive perception of both brand origin and country of manufacture, in which case the attitude toward the brand is heuristically formed.

Cause marketing communications: : consumer inference on attitudes towards brand and cause

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the effects of type of message (information/buy), the moderating effects of fit (high/low) and salience (brand vs cause) and the mediating effects of attributions of partner motives in cause marketing advertisements. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments, one with students and the second with a more representative sample of the population were used to investigate the effects. ANOVA and structural equation modeling were used to test the relationships. Findings – Fit and salience were found to be key moderators on the effect of type of message on consumer responses. While brands can use a buy message when they are salient, this benefits them only when fit is high. For informational messages, cause salience leads to positive outcomes, especially when fit is low. Further, consumer attributions of partner motives mediate responses to the advertisement. Research limitations/implications – Type of message is an important variable that needs to be selected with car...

Altruistic by Association, Altruistic for Advantage? Buying Groups and Small Firm Community Involvement

Does buying group membership affect small firm community involvement, and if it does, is there a further effect, in particular as it concerns small firm performance? This article addresses this intersection of issues. After advancing a set of hypotheses linking categorical and continuous dimensions of buying group activity to community involvement, this article also tests hypotheses of enlightened self-interest concerning the relationship between community involvement and firm performance. The article then describes a study of more than 300 small retail hardware stores. The findings show buying group membership being positively related to both scale and scope of community involvement. The authors also report a complex set of findings concerning the interaction of community involvement and buying group membership with small firm performance. The article concludes by reflecting on what these findings suggest for further work in small firm philanthropy.

Social Advertising: Effects of Dominance and Fit on Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions

Social Alliances (or business/nonprofit collaborations) have shown tremendous growth in recent years and demonstrate the potential to grow at an even faster rate. However, these alliances have typically been examined in specific and limited contexts, e.g., cause-related marketing, sponsorships, etc. It is only recently that there have been attempts to take a unified approach to investigate this topic, but without examining how social alliances should be communicated to consumers. With the growth in new forms of social alliances, it is necessary to identify the consequences for both organizations when they communicate to consumers through social advertising.

Nonprofit-business Alliances: Formation and Outcomes–Abstract

Alliances between nonprofit organizations and businesses have shown tremendous growth in recent years and demonstrate the potential to grow at an even faster rate. By synthesizing the different types of relationships that comprise nonprofit-business alliances (NBA) into a conceptual framework, further analysis of its components can be enhanced. Hence, the purposes of this article are to: (1) present a conceptual model of the formation of NBA’s, (2) identify and describe various factors that affect alliance formation, (3) identify factors that affect the success of NBA’s, (4) explain the outcomes for both firms, and (5) provide cohesion and direction for future research.

The Impact of Smokers' Group‐Membership and Activist Gender on Tolerance for Smoking, Receptiveness and Perceived Susceptibility to Anti‐Smoking Messages, and Likelihood of Anti‐Smoking Activism

Using two experiments we demonstrate that people have lower tolerance for smoking and higher anti‐smoking activism likelihood when in‐group versus out‐group members smoke. The likelihood of anti‐smoking activism toward in‐group smokers was greater for men than women. Moreover, as social distance declined, men showed greater anti‐smoking message receptiveness, message susceptibility and activism likelihood, whereas, women displayed no significant differences in tolerance for smoking, message receptiveness, message susceptibility, and activism likelihood. Open‐ended responses indicated generally negative cognitive reactions to smokers, yet a broad unwillingness to confront them. While feelings of personal relevance and caring facilitated anti‐smoking activism intentions, beliefs in the freedom of personal choice and polite interpersonal interactions hindered these intentions.