Investigating Membership Retention: Employing Public Relations Theory to Better Understand Relationship Management.

Though nonprofit management literature frequently discusses the importance of communication and cultivating relationships with donors, members, and volunteers, research on how individuals process organizational messages is sparse. This study proposes a model theoretically based on communicative action problem solving that details a sequential chain of communicative actions that predict behavioral intentions to support organizations. Using an online survey of members of a state museum (n = 363), this study found support for how individuals process organizational messages. Specifically, individuals that perceive a strong relationship with an organization are more likely to seek out information from or about that organization. After seeking out information, individuals filter messaging to keep the most helpful content while ignoring other content before ultimately sharing those messages with their personal network. Through sequential mediation analysis, the data supports the hypothesized order of active communication processes and extends the conceptual linkages discussed by nonprofit management literature between organization-public relationships and behavioral outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]