Examining the Antecedents of User Donation Intentions Toward Social Media Articles: Moderation Effects of Social Contagion

Abstract

Donations to articles on social media, as a new behavior, have been trending in recent years. Unlike donations to a charitable and nonprofit organization or victims, donations to social media articles have been accorded minimal attention from academic researchers. From the stimuli–organism–response framework, this study proposed a model to investigate the factors that influence the donation intentions of users on social media toward articles. Our results demonstrate that the credibility of the article determines users’ donation intentions. The results also indicate that the perceived value (usefulness and enjoyment) of the article mediates the effects of article credibility on users’ donation intentions. The social contagion nature of the article is also proven to moderate the magnitude of impacts on donation intention by users’ perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and perception of article credibility.