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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply communication theory to explore and help explain public support for causes and organizations in the form of prosocial behaviors, including donating, volunteering and participating in advocacy efforts. Design/methodology/approach: Through a survey of people (n=1,275) living in the USA who indicated supporting issues they cared about in 2017, this research gathered information about motivations for providing public support for various causes and non-profit organizations. Findings: The situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) was applied, and support was found for the STOPS model in terms of predicting communicative action. This study also found support for situational activeness influencing other behaviors, including active forms of communication, financial support, volunteer support and other forms of advocacy. Implications for practitioners managing communications or organizations involved in such efforts are discussed. Originality/value: This research applied STOPS to study behaviors, including communication, volunteering, donating and participating in advocacy efforts as forms of prosocial behavior supporting different organizations related to many important issues. The paper provides theoretical value in terms of adding to the generalizability of the STOPS model for communications scholars and discusses practical implications for non-profit and other types of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined individuals' prosocial behaviors by integrating two theories (STOPS: situational theory of problem solving and AAM: anger activism model). To explicate the causal relationship between individuals' perceptual, cognitive, and emotional factors and prosocial behaviors adoption, this study used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). With a survey (N = 312) of individuals who participated in certain types of prosocial behaviors between 2020 and 2021, this study found configurations of core antecedent factors leading to different types of prosocial behaviors. The findings from this study complement the limitations of each theory on its own and contribute to strategic communication practice for nonprofit organizations or other entities involved in encouraging prosocial behaviors. • Two theories (STOPS and AAM) with inherent focus of individuals' issue engagement were integrated. • Financial and communicative support showed the same configurations, which indicated a relatively easy way of prosocial behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. • While perceptual and emotional factors can become core antecedents, cognitive factor alone cannot be a core antecedent influencing prosocial behaviors. • The findings help practitioners design effective communication strategies by understanding different motivational factors leading to different types of prosocial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate and nonprofit leaders partner on public relations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.Design/methodology/approach Through semi-structured interviews across the USA, and stretching into Europe and South America, leaders (n=24) from US-based corporations top-ranked for corporate citizenship, and the nonprofit organizations with which they have developed CSR programs, shared insights and best practices.Findings Corporate and nonprofit leaders who collaborate on CSR programs spoke independently about several essential shared values, including community-focused collaboration, fiscal responsibility, and strategic alignment. How they described their CSR partnerships reflects a mutual commitment to a distributed leadership model, which involves the need to span organizational boundaries, share unique expertise across levels and roles, and sustain long-term relationships. Consistent with prior research, this study also suggests that communication leaders in both corporations and nonprofit organizations leverage transactional (process-focused) and transformational (people-focused) leadership styles, as they work to build and foster these long-term partnerships.Research limitations/implications The findings pinpoint how principles of the distributed leadership model come to life across CSR partnerships and contribute to the success of such partnerships. Corporations and their nonprofit partners must mutually focus on spanning, sharing, and sustaining as they build programs together. These shared principles exemplify a distributed leadership model and help define what CSR partnership truly means.Originality/value This study looks at CSR programs beyond just the perspective of the corporation and the public, taking into account the critical role the nonprofit organization plays as a partner in some CSR programming, and within a distributed leadership model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a survey of 586 college students from Beijing, China, this study tested the theory of situational support by exploring Chinese students' motivations to participate in nonprofit fundraising events. This study also compared theory variables between Chinese and U.S. college students by looking at similar data from a survey previously conducted with 514 U.S. students. There were differences between the two groups regarding constraint recognition, subjective norms, attitudes toward fundraising, and other variables, perhaps because of Confucianism, collectivism, and other differences between China and the United States. The findings generate a range of theoretical and practical implications including how nonprofit practitioners in China might develop better communication and messaging strategies to segment publics, motivate potential donors, and advance future fundraising efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]