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The Influence of Information Costs on Donor Decision Making
Author(s) -
McDougle Lindsey M.,
Handy Femida
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nonprofit management and leadership
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.844
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1542-7854
pISSN - 1048-6682
DOI - 10.1002/nml.21105
Subject(s) - random digit dialing , interview , donation , sample (material) , order (exchange) , actuarial science , logit , telephone survey , marketing , telephone interview , business , psychology , economics , sociology , finance , demography , econometrics , population , social science , chemistry , chromatography , anthropology , economic growth
This article explores whether an individual's information costs influence the information‐gathering strategies that he or she turns to prior to donating to a nonprofit. The data for the study come from a telephone survey of residents in a large county in southern California (n = 1,002). The sample was selected using random‐digit‐dialing technology and a computer‐assisted telephone interviewing system. A series of binomial logit models revealed that information costs significantly influenced the information‐gathering strategies individuals turned to in order to learn about nonprofit performance prior to making a donation. Results also revealed that greater confidence in nonprofits did not lead individuals to forgo efforts to obtain information on nonprofit performance altogether. The findings from this study suggest that it is important for nonprofit administrators to recognize, and then take into account, that not all individuals will rely on the same information sources when seeking to learn about nonprofit performance.