Demographic Differences | whatthestudiessay

These studies explore differences between different socio-cultural groups.

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Keywords: demographic, culture, gender, altruistic (beneficiary-focused) appeals, egoistic (supporter-focused) appeals

Source: ‘Effects of culture, gender, and moral obligations on responses to charity advertising across masculine and feminine cultures,’ by M. R. Nelson, F. F. Brunel, M. Supphellen and R. V. Manchanda (2006) Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 16.1, pp.45–56

Conclusions: This study compared the effectiveness of egoistic (supporter-focused) and altruistic (beneficiary-focused) appeals in four individualistic, Western cultures which differed in either masculinity or femininity. This study defined feminine cultures as cultures in which women have high equality and agency and men and women had overlapping roles (i.e. many women are allowed to focus on material success and exhibit strong individual goals as well as social goals; men are allowed to be nurturing and have strong social goals as well as individual goals), with masculine cultures being the opposite. According to these measures (by Hofstede 2001), the UK is a masculine culture.

The studies found that:

1. In masculine cultures men preferred the supporter-focused ad and women preferred the beneficiary-focused advert.

2. In feminine cultures, men preferred the beneficiary-focused ad and women preferred the supporter-focused advert.

Key caveats: This experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions. The results were self-reported attitudinal data, which may not directly correlate with actual behaviour in real life fundraising contexts.

URL/DOI: 10.1207/s15327663jcp1601_7

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Keywords: demographic, gender, persuasion, level of detail

Source: ‘Exploring differences in males’ and females’ processing strategies’, by J. Meyers-Levy and D. Maheswaran, (1991) Journal of Consumer Research vol. 18.1, pp.63-70

Conclusions: This study found that male participants tended to focus on overall message themes and the background knowledge that the message triggered much more than women did in reacting and responding to the message.

Key caveats: All participants were American undergraduates. In some cultures, concepts of gender (e.g. stereotypes, subtypes, norms, non-binary, fluidity) have changed since the date at which this study took place.

URL/DOI: 10.1086/209241

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Keywords: demographic, gender, persuasion, level of detail

Source: ‘Gender differences in the use of message cues and judgements’, by J. Meyers-Levy and B. Sternthal, Journal of Marketing Research (1991) vol. 28.1, pp. 84-96

Conclusions: This study found that female participants tended to focus on the details of the message more than men did in reacting and responding to it.

URL/DOI: 10.2307/3172728

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Keywords: demographic, gender, altruistic appeals vs. egoistic appeals

Source: ‘Explaining gendered responses to ‘help-self’ and ‘help-others’ charity ad appeals: The mediating role of world-views’, by F. F. Brunel and M. R. Nelson, Journal of Advertising (2000) vol. 29.3, pp.15-28

Conclusions: This study found:

1. Females responded more favourably to the appeals focused on helping others than they did to appeals focused on helping themselves (now or in the future) or others within their sociocultural group.

2. Males responded more favourably to appeals focused on helping themselves (now or in the future) or others within their sociocultural group than they did to appeals focusing on helping others.

Key caveats: This experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions. All participants were American undergraduates. The results were self-reported attitudinal data, which may not directly correlate with actual behaviour in real life fundraising contexts.

URL/DOI: 10.1080/00913367.2000.10673614

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Keywords: demographic, gender, order, persuasion

Source: ‘Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion’, F. F. Brunel and M. R. Nelson, Journal of Advertising Research (2003) vol. 43.3, pp.330–40

Conclusions: One experiment within this study found that:

1. For females, altruistic appeals (focused on helping others) tended to be rated more favourably than egoistic (self-focused) appeals.

2. For females, in reading a sequence of appeals, an altruistic appeal was evaluated more favourably when it was presented last in the sequence than when it was presented first in the sequence.

3. Females tended to be more systematic processors (generating a similar number of thoughts throughout all of the messages) than males.

URL/DOI: 10.1017/S0021849903030320

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Keywords: demographic, gender, persuasion

Source: ‘How should charitable organisations motivate young professionals to give philanthropically?’ by Rita Kottasz, International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing (2004) vol. 9.1, pp.9-27

Conclusions: In this study,

1. Affluent professional males under 40 years old working in the City of London reported social rewards in return for giving (e.g. gala events) as a significant motivator for charitable giving.

2. This group did not respond positively to financial incentives for planned giving (e.g. tax breaks).

3. This group exhibited a preference for arts and cultural charities.

4. This group exhibited a preference for well-known, established and reputable charities.

Key caveats: The results were self-reported attitudinal data, which may not directly correlate with actual behaviour in real life fundraising contexts.

URL/DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.230

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Keywords: demographic, native language, self-focused

Source: ‘Communications as motivators for charitable giving: A field experiment’, by D. P. Mason, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2016) vol. 45.1, pp.192-204

Conclusions: This study found that

1. Self-image motivation had a significant positive effect on the intent to participate in a fundraising campaign.

2. Spanish speakers who received a Spanish appeal letter were more likely to respond than English speakers who received an English appeal letter

Key caveats: The study took place in Los Angeles. The participants were all members of low income households.

URL/DOI: 10.1177/0899764015576408

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Keywords: demographic

Source: ‘The giving type: Identifying donors’, by A. C. M. Oliveira, R. T. A. Croson and C. Eckel, Journal of Public Economics (2011) vol. 95.5-6, pp.428-235

Conclusions: This study found that:

1. People who gave to one charity were more likely to give to others.

2. People who gave larger amounts to one charity also gave larger amounts to others.

3. Low income participants gave significant amounts to local charities.

Key caveats: This study took place in America.

URL/DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.012

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