Mediation Effects of Organization–Public Relationship Outcomes on Public Intentions for Organizational Supports

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the value of organization–public relationship (OPR) outcomes by examining the mediation effects of relationship outcomes on key antecedents of stakeholders' support for a not-for-profit organization, which include awareness, attitude, and behavioral intention toward supportive relationship-building. To this end, a survey was conducted with individual donors of a not-for-profit organization. Key findings include strong positive effects of awareness of organizational relationship-building activities in beliefs about OPR outcomes and on the intention to engage in relationship-building, such as giving donations. In addition, this study found that OPR outcomes play a critical role in connecting such effects of awareness to the intention of supportive behaviors.

Notes

¹The inconsistency among public relations scholars in uses of the term relationship, as perceptions/cognitions or attitude, has led to fewer studies on the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of the OPR (Ki & Hon, 2007, p. 2).

²The direction of this association remains unpredictable for this study: It can be positive or negative. In a previous relationship research study, for example, Yang (2007) found both negative and positive effects of awareness on OPR outcomes among the different organizations studied. That is, it could be possible that more awareness can lead to less favorable beliefs about OPR outcomes, if stakeholders are disappointed with organizational performance.

³The organization is a commercial-free public radio station licensed to a large private university in the Northeast region of the United States. This organization has a weekly audience of about 40,000 listeners.

Note. N = 170. The description for observed items can be found in text (see the section of “measures”).