Stakeholder relationship marketing in nonprofit organizations: towards omnichannel strategies

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Análise Económica e Estratexia Empresarial. 5033V01[Abstract] This doctoral thesis analyzes the antecedents and consequences of the adoption of multichannel (those combining offline and online channels) and omnichannel behaviors (entailing seamless marketing integration across multiple channels) on the side of nonprofit organizations and their stakeholders. The thesis is divided into 5 parts or chapters. Chapter 1 reviews four streams of theoretical literature in order to develop the conceptual foundations of the study: 1) the nonprofit sector and its organizations; 2) stakeholder relationship marketing in a nonprofit context; 3) volunteers as stakeholders unique to nonprofit organizations; and 4) multichannel and omnichannel strategies. Chapter 2 details the methodology of the doctoral thesis. Chapter 3 maps the field of nonprofit-stakeholder relationship marketing, resulting from a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. Prevalent themes within the existing literature have been identified, and new research lines to complete a future agenda on stakeholder relationship marketing are proposed. Chapter 4 adopts the perspective of one of the most relevant stakeholder groups of nonprofits and analyzes the antecedents that influence on the adoption of an omnichannel behavior by volunteers. Finally, chapter 5 explores which multichannel strategies implemented by nonprofits increase loyalty of episodic volunteers. Conclusions, implications and limitations close the study.[Resumen] Esta tesis doctoral analiza los antecedentes y consecuencias de la adopción de la multicanalidad (combinación de canales offline y online) y comportamientos omnicanal (integración del marketing a través de múltiples canales) por parte de las organizaciones no lucrativas y sus grupos de interés. La tesis se divide en 5 partes o capítulos. El capítulo 1 revisa cuatro corrientes de la literatura para desarrollar los fundamentos conceptuales del estudio. El capítulo 2 detalla la metodología de la tesis doctoral. El capítulo 3 mapea el campo del marketing relacional entre las organizaciones no lucrativas y sus grupos de interés, como resultado de una revisión sistemática de literatura y un análisis bibliométrico. Se han identificado temas frecuentes dentro de la literatura existente, y se proponen nuevas líneas de investigación para completar una agenda futura sobre marketing relacional con los grupos de interés. El capítulo 4 adopta la perspectiva de uno de los grupos de interés más relevantes y analiza los antecedentes que influyen en la adopción de un comportamiento omnicanal por parte de los voluntarios. Finalmente, el capítulo 5 explora qué estrategias multicanal implementadas por las organizaciones no lucrativas aumentan la lealtad de los voluntarios episódicos. Conclusiones, implicaciones y limitaciones cierran el estudio[Resumo] Esta tese de doutoramento analiza os antecedentes e as consecuencias da adopción de comportamentos multicanle (combinación de canles offline e online) e comportamentos omnicanle (integración do márketing a través de múltiples canles) por organizacións non lucrativas e os seus grupos de interese. A tese divídese en 5 partes ou capítulos. O capítulo 1 revisa catro correntes da literatura para desenvolver os fundamentos conceptuais do estudo. O capítulo 2 detalla a metodoloxía da tese de doutoramento. O capítulo 3 mapea o campo do márketing de relacións entre as organizacións non lucrativas e os seus grupos de interese, como resultado dunha revisión sistemática da literatura e análise bibliométrica. Identificáronse temas frecuentes dentro da literatura existente e propóñense novas liñas de investigación para completar unha axenda futura sobre o márketing de relacións cos grupos de interese. O capítulo 4 toma a perspectiva dun dos grupos máis relevantes e analiza os antecedentes que inflúen na adopción do comportamento omnicanle por parte dos voluntarios. Finalmente, o capítulo 5 explora que estratexias multicanle implementadas polas organizacións non lucrativas aumentan a lealdade dos voluntarios episódicos. Conclusións, implicacións e limitacións pechan o estudo

Understanding the Design and Implementation of Civic Technologies in Resource-Limited Public Organizations

With advances in computing and open data, more and more public organizations have collaborated with volunteer technologists – people with information technology (IT) skills who voluntarily help public organizations with their IT needs – to create or adopt civic technologies to solve public issues, and to support civic engagement in local communities. This dissertation aims to inform the design and implementation of future civic technologies in public organizations, by presenting three studies that investigate public organizations’ practices when designing and implementing civic technologies. In particular, we focus on the implementation of social media in nonprofit organizations (NPOs), the design process of civic hacking projects, and civic data hack-a-thons in several resource-limited public organizations and communities. We first investigate how 26 small environmental NPOs leverage social media for various public engagement activities to identify challenges that public organizations encounter when implementing civic technologies. Next, we study two ways that volunteer technologists and public organizations collaboratively create civic technologies. In Study 2, we examine the factors that influence the sustainability of 16 civic hacking projects during which volunteer technologists and public organizations collaborate on designing technologies to solve community issues, both through observations and through 19 interviews. In Study 3, we investigate how to generate actionable data analytics products for NPOs during civic data hackathons, and explore the roles of brokers to support the collaborations between civic technologists and public organizations. Based on findings from these studies, we argue that evaluating the engagement outcomes through civic technologies, solving the internal organizational challenges that prohibit engagement, and reconciling the needs of various stakeholders, are all crucial for public organizations to better engage with communities through civic technologies. In addition, taking into account various public organizations’ constraints and facilitating data literacy is essential for the sustainability of civic technologies in public organizations. Last, building good relationships between various stakeholders and leveraging brokering activities (translation, coordination, alignment, and contact brokering) to bridge different community of practices are all critical for collaborations during the design and implementation of civic technologies. Informed by findings and insights from the studies, we identify design implications and practical guidelines for civic-minded volunteer technologists and public organizations, to foster the design and implementation of civic technologies and the associated collaborative work.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144063/1/youyangh_1.pd

The Use of Social Media in Emergency Management by Public Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned From Areas Affected by Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, and Harvey

Natural disasters are increasingly costly for the United States. The literature suggests emergency managers may improve disaster outcomes and enhance disaster resilience by supplementing their official public-communications methods with more bi-directional communication tactics using social media. This study aims to understand how social media is used within the “whole community” of emergency management in areas affected by recent hurricanes. The first research objective examines how social media is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations across the four phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). The second objective is to identify challenges governmental and non-governmental groups have encountered and strategies they recommend addressing these problems. The third objective is to examine how social media was used by disaster responders specifically during the response phase of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We conducted a survey of 269 organizations in areas affected by Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012 to address research objectives one and two, and for the third objective, surveyed 64 organizations who contributed to the rescue and response efforts during Hurricane Harvey. The first survey found respondents representing government-related organizations use social media more during the response and the preparedness phases, while non-governmental groups report more social media activity during the recovery phase. This finding suggests that organizations performing primary and secondary roles in emergency management play complementary roles in risk and crisis communication with the public. The results also suggest that the emergency management community primarily uses social media to “push” information to the public through established communication networks and could benefit from additional efforts to “pull” information from their networks. Survey respondents report greatest concern about challenges external to their organizations, with the accuracy of information found on social media to be most concerning. The third research objective finds generally high levels of social media use among Hurricane Harvey responders, but also evidence of technical challenges including an inability to convert web-based communications to dispatchable missions due to limited functionality of their 911 systems. The results of the study provide insights regarding uses, challenges, and strategies to improve social media for the whole community of emergency management

The Use of New Media by Political Parties in the 2008 National Election

The overall purpose of this research project has been to undertake an empirical, exploratory study into how political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs in and around the 2008 national election campaign, and their implications. The following research questions have been explored: How, in what form, and to what extent did political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs during the 2008 national election? How can the use, and non-use, of ICTs be understood and explained? What are the implications of the uptake and use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for their external relationships with voters? What recommendations can be made regarding the use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for election campaigning

Technology for Good: Innovative Use of Technology by Charities

Technology for Good identifies ten technologies being used by charitable organizations in innovative ways. The report briefly introduces each technology and provides examples of how those technologies are being used.Examples are drawn from a broad spectrum of organizations working on widely varied issues around the globe. This makes Technology for Good a unique repository of inspiration for the public and private sectors, funders, and other change makers who support the creation and use of technology for social good

The Use of New Media by Political Parties in the 2008 National Election

The overall purpose of this research project has been to undertake an empirical, exploratory study into how political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs in and around the 2008 national election campaign, and their implications. The following research questions have been explored: How, in what form, and to what extent did political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs during the 2008 national election? How can the use, and non-use, of ICTs be understood and explained? What are the implications of the uptake and use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for their external relationships with voters? What recommendations can be made regarding the use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for election campaigning

Contact Tracing in the Era of Covid-19: Implementation of Traditional Strategies in Novel Contexts and Innovative Approaches to Address Existing Barriers

Background: Contact tracing is an evidence-based intervention that became a core component of many COVID-19 response plans throughout the globe. Despite its demonstrated success within other disease contexts, early studies of COVID-19 contact tracing have reported mixed results regarding the effectiveness and impact of contact tracing on ultimate pandemic objectives such as case incidence or mortality. Yet, there remains a knowledge gap regarding contextual factors that influence implementation outcomes of contact tracing that may in turn influence its ultimate impact. The primary objective of this dissertation is to address this knowledge deficit by evaluating an emergency contact tracing program developed at the onset of the pandemic and evaluating the performance of various Bluetooth-assisted contact tracing technologies. Methods: The emergency contact tracing program evaluated throughout this dissertation was established in partnership between the New Haven Health Department and Yale School of Public Health in March, 2020. In Aim 1 (Chapter 2), I evaluate implementation outcomes including reach (proportion of cases and contacts interviewed), timeliness (time from case testing to subsequent contact tracing steps), and sustainability of volunteer workforces. Within this Aim, I use quantitative methods including descriptive cascades to identify common reasons for case and contact drop-out, descriptive time measurements to evaluate timeliness of cumulative and individual contact tracing steps, and multilevel regression analyses to evaluate factors associated with successfully reaching cases and contacts. In Aim 2, I first use focus groups with contact tracers (Chapter 3) to qualitatively explore contextual elements associated with successful delivery of contact tracing. I use thematic analysis to analyze transcripts and the RE-AIM implementation science framework to organize the identified themes. In the second half of Aim 2 (Chapter 4), I draw on interviews with COVID-19 cases and contacts to qualitatively explore elements that influence behaviors upon which the uptake of contact tracing relies. These behaviors include testing, answering phone calls, participating in interviews, and isolating/quarantining. I thematically analyze transcripts and use the COM-B model of behavior change to organize the findings. In Aim 3 (Chapter 5), I evaluate two Bluetooth technologies used in a contact tracing pilot on a university campus. The first technology is an app-based approach, while the second uses a small, portable device to record Bluetooth data. I measure the sensitivity and specificity of each technology by comparing Bluetooth contact records to daily self-report records. I then use a post-participation survey to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the experiences of technology users and explore their perspectives. Results: Of the 1,705 cases reported in Aim 1, 545 (32%) were not reached due to missing key information, and another 334 (20%) were not reached due to their declining the calls or interview invitations. Ultimately, only 826 (48%) were interviewed. Of the 2,437 contacts reported by interviewed cases, 1,597 (66%) were not reached due to missing information, and another 153 (6%) were not reached due to their declining calls or interview invitations. Ultimately, only 687 (28%) were notified of their exposure. Median time to case interview from testing was five days and time to contact notification was 8 days. Various individual-, program-, and case-cluster factors were associated with successful outreach. Support from public health nurses was needed to stabilize the emergency contact tracing workforce due to surging caseloads and limited sustainability of volunteers (median time from sign-up to retirement from program was four weeks). In Aim 2, contact tracers identified many challenges and successes of the program’s implementation and made recommendations for improvement. Successfully engaging cases and contacts (the group hereafter referred to as “clients”) appeared dependent on outreach preferences, tracer communication skills, and sources of community mistrust. Effectiveness of contact tracing appeared threatened by time delays and the difficulties of isolation and quarantine. Adoption of a volunteer workforce appeared to rely on volunteer motivations, collaborative training, and supervision. Last, implementation efficiency was influenced by available tools and coordination with other agencies, and program maintenance was threatened by the low sustainability of volunteer workforces. Interviews with clients shed light on additional elements influencing specific behaviors required in successful contact tracing, and these findings were categorized within the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behavior (COM-B) Model. Capability of clients to engage in tracing efforts was influenced by COVID-19 symptoms or baseline knowledge. Opportunities for engagement were influenced by structural and contextual resources and ties within social networks. Last, Motivation to engage in tracing efforts was influenced by symptoms, beliefs about deliverables and consequences of participating, trust in the health system, and emotional reactions of clients. In Aim 3, the portable device had higher sensitivity (94% vs 57%; p\u3c.001) and specificity (95% vs 87%; p=.02) compared to the app-only technology. Participants largely considered Bluetooth contact tracing to be appropriate on a university campus but felt less comfortable with using GPS or Wi-Fi technologies. Most preferred technology that was developed and managed by the university compared to a third party, and privacy concerns were common. Conclusions: This dissertation presents some of the earliest efforts to better understand the contextual factors influencing success of COVID-19 contact tracing implementation, and its use of multiple and mixed methods to explore the implementation of contact tracing allows for the triangulation of findings from each individual Aim. Lacking information required for outreach posed a major barrier to reaching cases and contacts, although individual, case-cluster, and program-level factors associated with implementation success were also noted. While volunteers appeared to be an appropriate solution to emergency workforce needs, sustainability poses a significant threat to volunteer-driven programs as demonstrated quantitatively and qualitatively. Focus group and interview participants identified many individual-, program- and systems-level contextual elements influencing contact tracing delivery and uptake. Potential solutions to barriers as well as potential intervention activities to implement are discussed within these chapters. Last, Bluetooth technologies offer promising solutions to some contact tracing barriers, but the preferences of potential technology users and feasibility of managing such hardware/software approaches will be critical for uptake and adherence