The Rivalry Effect: The Potential to Foster (Lapsed) Donor Giving

Abstract

Prior sport rivalry researchers have failed to examine the effects of rivalry utilizing a multidimensional approach to team identification as well as the effects of rivalries in relation to the behavioral outcomes of lapsed donors. The authors worked with the official booster club of a large public university to create three distinct email campaigns targeting lapsed donors to test the effects of framing donation requests with rivalry-themed communications. The results of this study highlight the varia-tions in these distinct identification dimensions due to the presence of a rivalry as well as the behavioral effects a rivalry has on these lapsed donors.