abstract
Using an online survey and qualitative analysis, this study examined the role of control mutuality in social media engagement to provide insight for social media strategy creation for nonprofit organizations. Guided by OPR and relationship management literature, insights and implications contribute to scholarly discussions of control mutuality and relationship management.
5. Discussion
Publics are quite vocal on social media (Bowen, 2013). When online resources such as social media are not used to their full potential in the nonprofit sector (Waters & Lord, 2009), organization-public relationships do not have the ability to flourish online, which can be damaging to donor relations for organizations dependent primarily on donations. Findings from this study revealed that donors who ‘liked’ (or followed) their local animal welfare organization’s social media platforms perceived greater control mutuality than those who did not. When donors perceived heightened control mutuality, they were more likely to participate in social media engagement activities such as contribution and creation on a local animal welfare organization’s social media platforms. Donors, who perceived heightened control mutuality, also noted that they felt that their suggestions and opinions were valued by their local animal welfare organization and would have an impact on its operations. For example, donors encouraged local animal welfare organizations to use social media to communicate about immediate needs of the organization. One donor commented: I feel social media has been a wonderful platform for the organization to communicate to the public any emergent or long term needs. Whether it is fostering or when they need assistance with providing food for the animals in the shelter.
