Impact of Leadership Characteristics on Media Use in Nonprofit Organizations

Authors

  • Paul K. Fornelli California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, California
  • Douglas P. Roberts Argosy University Orange, California
  • Bhaskar Sinha National University

Keywords:

Advanced structural theory, internal stakeholders, NPO, organizational culture, NPO PRISM scale, SPSS, strategic planning, survey monkey, transformational leadership

Abstract

Social networks have proven vital in building a large, global constituency and it is imperative that nonprofit organizations (NPO) become more aggressive in incorporating social media into their daily operations. However, nonprofit leadership often fails to take into account the existing usage characteristics of their own internal stakeholders regarding social media. The purpose of this research was to survey internal stakeholders at a large NPO located in Southern California to determine whether there is a statistically significant relationship between the stakeholders’ current social media capabilities and usage levels, and their overall perceptions of social media use within the nonprofit’s organizational leadership culture.  A quantitative descriptive methodology was used to survey 210 internal stakeholders to gauge participant responses to 37 survey items. Data were assessed using correlation statistics at the p < .05 threshold for statistical significance and analysis of variance testing.  This study revealed that the NPO’s internal stakeholders possess strong social media skill sets, and that these internal stakeholders can make more of a contribution to the NPO’s effective use of social media.  The data showed a statistically significant relationship between internal stakeholder social media capabilities and usage levels, and their perceptions of their NPO leadership’s own social media characteristics. Areas of recommendation for future study include determining the ideal metrics needed to track the growth of social media within this chapter of the NPO. 

Author Biographies

Paul K. Fornelli, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, California

California State University Dominguez Hills

Carson, California, USA

Douglas P. Roberts, Argosy University Orange, California

Argosy University, Orange, California, USA

Bhaskar Sinha, National University

Professor

Department of Computer Science, Information and Media Systems

School of Engineering and Computing

National University

References

Sheth, S. (2013). Social media, a new revolution in the field of marketing: The effect of information sharing, peer pressure, entertainment and emotional connection on attitude towards the brand and in turn the purchase intention from the brand. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1496772498?accountid=34899.

Billington, M., & Billington, P., (2012). Social media tools for leaders and managers. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 9(6), 11-19. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1315152992?accountid=34899

Brown, L. (2015). A case study of social media marketing practices related to volunteer management functions in nonprofit organizations. Retrieved from Capella University at http://search.proquest.com/docview/1734103411

Tapscott, D. (2011). View of the age of networked intelligence: Unleashing the power of social networking for the enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.e2conf.com/innovate/exhibitor-whitepapers/Don_Tapscott--Social_Networking_for_the_Enterprise.pdf

Aoun, C., Chew, E., & Vatanasakdakul, S. (2014). Beyond speculation: A holistic investigation into factors affecting social media utilization in the workplace. Twentieth Americas Conference on Information Systems. http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1223&context=amcis2014&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fas_ylo%3D2014%26q%3Dimportance%2Bof%2Bsocial%2Bmedia%2Bin%2Borganizations%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C5%26as_vis%3D1#search=%22importance%20social%20media%

Ramanadhan, S., Mendez, S, Rao, M., & Viswanath, K. (2013). Social media use by community-based organizations conducting health promotion: A content analysis. BMC Public Health, 13, 1129. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1129

Waters, R. D., Burnett, E., Lamm, A., & Lucas, J. (2009). Engaging stakeholders through social networking: How nonprofit organizations are using Facebook. Public Relations Review. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2009.01.006

Edwards, D. (2011). Analyzing decision-making styles and strategic planning techniques for information technology in non-profit organizations. Retrieved from ProQuest Central http://search.proquest.com/docview/892235400?accountid=34899

Lord, M. (2012). How and why fundraisers use social media: A national survey of the practice. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 1610. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1267040600?accountid=34899. (1267040600; 2012-99210-210).

Lee, C. (2015). The use of social media in leadership communication: Benefits, challenges and leadership perspectives. [CD-ROM]. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8(1), 513-529.

Curtis, L., Edwards, C., Fraser, K., Gudelsky, S., Holmquist, J., Thornton, K., & Sweetser, K. (2009). Adoption of social media for public relations by nonprofit organizations. Public Relations Review, 36, 90-92. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2009.10.003

Brown, J. D. (2015). The Cronbach alpha reliability estimate. University of Hawaii, Statistic’s Corner. Retrieved from http://jalt.org/test/bro_13.htm

McKeever, B., & Pettijohn, S. (2014). The nonprofit sector in brief, 2014. The Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/413277-The-Nonprofit-Sector-in-Brief--.PDF

National Council of Nonprofits. (2014). Nonprofit trends to watch. Retrieved from https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/sites/default/files/documents/2014-trends-to- watch_0.pdf.

Lawry, L. (2009). A guide to NGOs for the military. The Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM). Retrieved from http://fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/ngo-guide.pdf

Guo, C., & Saxton, G. (2013). Tweeting social change: How social media are changing nonprofit advocacy. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, January 8. doi:10.1177/0899764012471585

Markgraf, B. (2014). Organizational structure for non-profits for a volunteer organization. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-structure-nonprofits-volunteer-organization-66067.html

Nelson, M., & Vilela, A. (2009). “Doing good†with advertising: Building awareness, branding, and generating revenue for social causes and non-profit organizations. American Academy of Advertising Conference Proceedings, 2009; pp. 32-35. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/192404523?accountid=34899

Segovia, R. (2015, March 10). 3 ways nonprofits can overcome the expected decline in giving. Retrieved from http://www.pursuant.com/blog/3-ways-nonprofits-can-overcome-expected-decline-giving

Kiss, J. (2016). Facebook’s quarterly earnings surpass $5bn for first time thanks to ad sales. The Guardian. Retrieved January 27, 2016 from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/27/facebook-fourth-quarter-earnings-ad-revenue

Facebook. (2016). Facebook newsroom. Retrieved from http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/

Saxton, G., & Wang, L. (2013). The social network effect: The determinants of giving through social media. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Retrieved from http://metatoc.com/papers/11753-the-social-network-effect-the-determinants-of-giving-through-social-media

Fajardo, J. K. (2014). Virtual influence: Leveraging social media as a leadership tool. Military Review, 94(1), 4-14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1510241414?accountid=34899

Creswell, J. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, (4th Ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E., (2015). Business research methods, (4th Ed.). Oxford University Press.

Donnelly Jr., R. (2009). Population vs. sample. Statistics information. Retrieved from the Cedar Crest College website http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/bio/hale/biostat/session2links/popsam.html

Carroll, S. (2014). What is the difference between a population and a sample? Retrieved from http://www.dissertation-statistics.com.

Los Angeles County. (2016). Estimated population of the 88 cities in the County of Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://ceo.lacounty.gov/forms/Population%20Pg_Color.pdf

Losby, J., & Wetmore, A. (2012). Center for disease control: Using Likert scales in evaluation survey work. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/pubs/docs/cb_february_14_2012.pdf

Bertram, D. (2008). Likert scales and the meaning of life. Retrieved from http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/~kristina/topic-dane-likert.pdf

SurveyMonkey.com. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/policy/privacy-policy/

Nardi, P. (2006). Doing survey research: A guide to quantitative methods, (2nd ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Biddix, J. (2009). Research rundowns, Valdosta State University. Retrieved from https://researchrundowns.wordpress.com/quantitative-methods/instrument-validity-reliability/

Hartono, R., & Sheng, M. (2015). Knowledge sharing and firm performance: the role of social networking site and innovation capability. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 28(3), 335-347. doi:10.1080/09537325.2015.1095289

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.

Daft, R. (2007). The leadership experience, (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

O’Hay, N. (2011). Conflict and the path to resolution in global virtual teams. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/911750649?accountid=34899. (911750649).

Downloads

Published

2016-10-15

How to Cite

Fornelli, P. K., Roberts, D. P., & Sinha, B. (2016). Impact of Leadership Characteristics on Media Use in Nonprofit Organizations. Asian Journal of Business and Management, 4(5). Retrieved from https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJBM/article/view/4193