Personal Biography as Brand Story of Charity Organization: Narrative Persuasion and Moral Emotion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.2058Keywords:
Narrative Transportation, Moral Emotion, Compassion, Need for Affect, Story MarketingAbstract
Many charity organizations were founded by or in memory of great personalities. In story marketing research, however, the larger than life stories of founders used as the brand stories of charity organizations were seldom addressed. This study filled this research gap. Based on narrative transportation and moral emotion research traditions, this study investigates the narrative persuasive effect of personal biography as brand story on the mediating role of compassion, the negatively valenced and other-directed moral emotion, and subsequent altruistic intentions of viewers. The results showed that narrative transportation was positively related to compassion, compassion was positively related to charitable message attitude, and both were positively related to donation and message forwarding intentions. Need for affect is a trait that was correlated with both transportation and compassion.
References
A. Lundqvist, V. Liljander, J. Gummerus, and A. van Riel, “The impact of storytelling on the consumer brand experience: The case of a firm-originated story”. Journal of Brand Management, 20, 283-297, 2013.
S. Randazzo, “Subaru: The emotional myths behind the brand's growth”. Journal of Advertising Research, 46(1), 11-17, 2006.
H. C. Chiu, Y. C. Hsieh, and Y. C. Kuo, “How to align your brand stories with your products?” Journal of Retailing, 88(2), 262-275, 2012.
D. T. Kao, “Is Cinderella resurging? The impact of consumers’ underdog disposition on brand preferences: Underdog brand biography and brand status as moderators”. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 14, 307-316, 2015.
K. Fog, C. Budtz, P. Munch, and S. Blanchette, Storytelling: Branding in practice (2nd ed.), Berlin, Germany, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 2012.
M. C. Green and T. C. Brock, “The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narrative”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 701-721, 2000.
M. C. Green, T. C. Brock, and G. F. Kaufman, “Understanding media enjoyment: The role of transportation into narrative worlds”. Communication Theory, 14(4), 311-327, 2004.
T. van Laer, K. de Ruyter, L. M. Visconti, and M. Wetzels, “The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers' narrative transportation”. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 797-817, 2014.
D. Wentzel, T. Tomczak, and A. Herrmann, “The moderating effect of manipulative intent and cognitive resources on the evaluation of narrative ads”. Psychology & Marketing, 27(5), 510-530, 2010.
S. L. Arnold, D. T. Nguyen, and N. Hartley, “Pro bono service sheds new light into commercial friendship”. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19, 381-394, 2011.
D. T. Nguyen, “Charity appeal story with a tribal stigma anti-climax twist - consequences of revealing unanticipated information in storytelling”. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 23(4), 337-352, 2015.
J. Haidt, “The moral emotions”. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (pp. 852-870), 2003.
D. J. Moore and P. M. Homer, “Self-brand connections: The role of attitude strength and autobiographical memory primes”. Journal of Business Research, 61(7), 707-714, 2008.
D. B. Arnett, S. D. German, and S. D. Hunt, “The identity salience model of relationship marketing success: The case of nonprofit marketing”. Journal of Marketing, 67, 89-105, 2003.
R. Newham, L. Terry, S. Atherley, S. Hahessy, Y. Babenko-Mould, M. Evans, K. Ferguson, G. Carr, and S. H. Cedar, “A moral profession: Nurse educators' selected narratives of care and compassion”. Nursing Ethics, 26(1), 105-115, 2019.
J. Xu, “Moral emotions and self-construal in charity advertising: communication on focus”. Journal of Promotion Management, 23(4), 557-574, 2017.
E. Das, P. Kerkhof, and J. Kuiper, “Improving the Effectiveness of Fundraising Messages”. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 36(2), 161-175, 2008.
A. Merchant, J. B. Ford, and A. Sargeant, “Charitable organizations' storytelling influence on donors' emotions and intentions”. Journal of Business Research, 63(7), 754-762, 2010.
M. Appel, T. Gnambs, and G. R. Maio, “A short measure of the need for affect”. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94(4), 418-426, 2012.
G. R. Maio and V. M. Esses, “The need for affect: Individual differences in the motivation to approach or avoid emotions”. Journal of Personality, 69(4), 583-615, 2001.
M. Appel and T. Richter, “Transportation and need for affect in narrative persuasion: A mediated moderation model”. Media Psychology, 13, 101-135, 2010.
S. Fournier, “Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research”. Journal of Consumer Research, 24, 343-373, 1998.
K. P. Newman and R. K. Trump, “When are consumers motivated to connect with ethical brands? The roles of guilt and moral identity importance”. Psychology & Marketing, 34(6), 597-609, 2017.
S. Y. Hsu, N. Dehuang, and A. G. Woodside, “Storytelling research of consumers’ self-reports of urban tourism experiences in China”. Journal of Business Research, 62, 1223-1254, 2009.
A. G. Woodside, S. Sood, and K. E. Miller, “When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research in psychology and marketing”. Psychology and Marketing, 25, 97-145, 2008.
J. Bruner, “The narrative construction of reality”. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1-21, 1991.
J. Bruner, Actual Minds, Possible Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986.
J. E. Escalas, “Imagine yourself in the product: Mental simulation, narrative transportation, and persuasion”. Journal of Advertising, 33(2), 37-48, 2004.
N. Parahia, A. Keinan, J. Avery, and J. B. Schor, “The underdog effect: The marketing of disadvantage and determination through brand biography”. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 775-790, 2011.
R. J. Gerring, Experiencing narrative worlds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993.
M. D. Slater and D. Rouner, “Entertainment-education and elaboration likelihood: understanding the processing of narrative persuasion”. Communication Theory, 12, 173-191, 2002.
T. Chen and H.-C. Chang, “The effect of narrative transportation in mini-film advertising on reducing counterarguing”. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 8(1), 25-46, 2017.
R. S. Lazarus, Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
R. Plutchik, Emotion: A psychoevolutionary synthesis. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
A. Gewirth, Ethics. In Encyclopedia Brittanica 15th Edition (Vol. 6, pp 976-998). Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1984.
J. Kroll and E. Egan, “Psychiatry, moral worry, and the moral emotions”. Journal of Psychiatric Practice, 10(6), 352-360, 2004.
F. Septianto, J. An, and B. Soegianto, “Personalized giving: Configurational approach in examining demographics, morality, and prosocial intentions”. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 29(3), 330-342, 2019.
M. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
J. Kapyla and D. Kennedy, “Cruel to care? Investigating the governance of compassion in the humanitarian imaginary”. International Theory, 6(2), 255-292, 2014.
C. D. Batson and A. A. Powell, “Altruism and prosocial behavior”, in T. Millon and M. J. Lerner (Eds), Handbook of psychology: Personality and social psychology, (5, pp. 463-484), Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2003.
J. L. Goetz, D. Keltner, and E. Simon-Thomas, “Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review”. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 351-374, 2010.
E. M. Koopman and F. Hakemulder, “Effects of literature on empathy and self-reflection: A theoretical-empirical framework”. Journal of Literary Theory, 9(1), 79-111, 2015.
L. V. Monrouxe and C. E. Rees, “It's just a clash of cultures: Emotional talk within medical students' narratives of professionalism dilemmas”. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 17(5), 671-701, 2012.
G. Haddock, G. R. Maio, K. Arnold, and T. L. H. Huskinson, “Should persuasion be affective or cognitive: The moderating effects of need for affect and need for cognition”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 769-778, 2008.
T. L. Huskinson and G. Haddock, “Individual differences in attitude structure: Variance in the chronic reliance on affective and cognitive information”. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 82-90, 2004.
J. A. Edell and M. C. Burke, “The power of feelings in understanding advertising effects”. Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 421-33, 1987.
J. Deighton, D. Romer, and J. McQueen, “Using drama to persuade”. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 335-343, 1989.
J. E. Escalas and B. B. Stern, “Sympathy and empathy: emotional responses to advertising dramas”. Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 566-578, 2003.
C. D. Batson and L. L. Shaw, “Evidence for altruism: Toward a pluralism of prosocial motives”. Psychological Inquiry, 2, 107-122, 1991.
J. A. Krosnick, D. S. Boninger, Y. C. Chuang, M. K. Berent, and C. G. Carnot, “Attitude strength: One construct or many related constructs?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1132-1151, 1993.
M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen, Belief, attitude, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975.
S. B. Mackenzie, R. J. Lutz, and G. E. Belch, G. E. “The role of attitude toward the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness: A test of competing explanations”. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(2), 130-143, 1986.
A. W. Perkins and M. R. Forehand, “Implicit self-referencing: The effect of nonvolitional self-association on brand and product attitude”. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 142-156, 2012.
M. Appel, T. Gnambs, T. Richter, and M. C. Green, “The transportation scale-short form (TS-SF)”. Media Psychology, 18(2), 243-266, 2015.
M. N. Shiota, D. Keltner, and O. P. John, “Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big Five personality and attachment style”. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(2), 61-71, 2006.
D. Gefen, E. E. Rigdon, and D. Straub, “An update and extension to SEM guidelines for administrative and social science research”. MIS Quarterly, 35(2), iii-A7, 2011.
W. W. Chin, “The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling”. Modern Methods for Business Research, Lawrence, London, pp. 295-336, 1998.
J. C. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory, (2nd Ed). McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978.
J. P. Tangney, J. Stuewig, and D. J. Mashek, “Moral emotions and moral behavior”. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345-372, 2007.
R. Bekkers and T. Schuyt, “And who is your neighbor? Explaining denominational differences in charitable giving and volunteering in the Netherlands”. Review of Religious Research, 50(1), 74-96, 2008.
C. D. Hopkins, K. J. Shanahan, and M. A. Raymond, “The moderating role of religiosity on nonprofit advertising”. Journal of Business Research, 67, 23-31, 2014.
K. Fitzgerald, E. Paravati, M. C. Green, M. M. Moore, and J. L. Qian, “Restorative narratives for health promotion”. Health Communication, 35(3), 356-363, 2020.
M. Tenore, “The case for restorative narratives: A strength-based storytelling genre that can improve media coverage”. 2015, Retrieved from https://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/the-case-for-restorative-narratives/