As AI chatbots are increasingly used in digital fundraising, it remains unclear which communication strategies are more effective in enhancing consumer trust and donation behavior. Drawing on construal level theory and adopting a human-AI interaction perspective, this research examines how message framing in AI-mediated persuasive communication shapes trust and donation willingness. Across four studies, we find that when AI chatbots employ high-level construal (abstract) message framing, consumers perceive the information as less credible compared to when the same message is delivered by a human agent. This reduced message credibility weakens trust in the charitable organization through a trust transfer mechanism, ultimately lowering donation intention. Conversely, low-level construal (concrete) framing enhances both trust and donation willingness. Moreover, the negative impact of abstract message framing by AI chatbots is significantly attenuated when the chatbot features anthropomorphic visual cues, which increase perceived credibility and restore trust and donation willingness. These findings reveal potential risks in deploying AI chatbots for interactive fundraising marketing and offer practical insights for nonprofit organizations seeking to leverage AI in donor engagement.
8 July 2025 in Environment, Development and Sustainability
While being a workaholic supervisor may be viewed as admirable due to their commitment to work, existing findings on its effects on subordinates are mixed. Drawing upon the principle learning perspective and activation theory, we propose a curvilinear relationship between supervisor workaholism and subordinate job performance and investigate the moderating role of subordinate social-related social media usage. Specifically, we suggest that subordinate job performance increases (decreases) as supervisor workaholism increases from low (moderate) to moderate (high) levels and that this inverted U-shaped relationship becomes flatter when subordinates have higher social-related social media usage. The results, based on a multi-source survey collected from 321 supervisor-subordinate dyads, support the predictions. Our research moves beyond linear thinking and suggests that there exists an optimal level of supervisor workaholism that maximizes subordinate job performance. We also provide insights into the ongoing debate and potential ethical concerns surrounding whether employees should use social media at work. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
9 August 2025 in Environment, Development and Sustainability