Stories that matter: the effects of narrative transportation and influencer-message congruity on prosocial behavior
研究通过两个实验发现，社交媒体帖子中使用角色驱动的叙事能增强叙事沉浸并提高捐赠金额，且影响者形象与信息一致时效果更强，尤其对高自我超越者更有效。
• Narrative techniques in storytelling enhance influencer marketing impact. • Non-profits influencers can use diverse characters in messages to be impactful. • Character-driven narratives boost immersion and increase donation. • Influencer-message fit enhances persuasiveness of the narratives. • Higher self-transcendence people donate more when influencer and their messages fit. Research on storytelling and influencer marketing in charitable donations has attracted great interest from non-profit organizations amid increasing fundraising competition. However, the synergistic effect between the two remains understudied. This study investigates a storytelling strategy − narrative persuasion using character-driven narratives and its impact in influencer marketing on donation behavior, which is underpinned by the Narrative Transportation Theory. Two experiments revealed that exposure to social media posts featuring character-driven narratives increased narrative transportation and subsequent donations. This effect was strengthened by influencer-message congruity, where alignment between the influencer’s image and message enhanced donation amounts. Crucially, the impact was moderated by self-transcendence, with individuals exhibiting high self-transcendence contributing more donations when character-driven narratives aligned with influencers’ images. This study contributes to the storytelling (narrative persuasion) in influencer marketing literature, underscoring the importance of character-driven narrative techniques in shaping consumer responses to social media posts promoting charitable donation.