Abstract:
It is well established that in a highly competitive and resource-scarce environment, companies must create a strong brand to attract and retain their customers. Similarly, non-profit organizations (NPOs) can use their brand image to influence the recruitment and retention of their volunteers. By creating a positive brand image, they can attract qualified and talented personnel. One mechanism to convey a brand image is through the use of social media as a tool to create the image they want to gain the public’s support (financial and tacit) for their given cause and goals. This study explores how the social media, co-created brand image of an NPO influences the recruitment and retention of volunteers. In this study, we adopted the use of a single case study methodology examining just one instance of the volunteer context at the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC). A social media mining strategy across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allowed us to derive the brand image of the LRC. The qualitative data was first analyzed using NVivo software and then analyzed by using R software to have a holistic reading and understand the difference between the official, public, and volunteer-held image. To probe the volunteer-held image, an online questionnaire was leveraged as a joint research project between the Lebanese American University and the LRC. The survey was sent to LRC volunteers to explore how their perception of the LRC’s brand image is tied to recruitment and retention. A total of 1672 usable questionnaires were obtained and analyzed. The quantitative data collected was analyzed by using R software. Results indicate that in some cases the reasons for joining and staying at the LRC as volunteer are not part of the organizational brand image which points to the possible need to align image and aim when working with volunteers.
