"With the prevalence in the use of the Facebook profile filter for social causes and the newly launched fund raising tool, Facebook is providing a unique opportunity for non-profit organizations (NPOs) to raise public attention and funding. The current study aims to understand how online descriptive norms and involvement affect Facebook users' behavioral intentions toward NPOs. A 2 (descriptive norms: low vs. high) X 2 (involvement: low vs. high) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted. The manipulation of involvement through geographic proximity was not successful in that it yielded a counter-hypothesized validation of the manipulation. Results showed that the interaction between descriptive norms and organizational geographic scope had a significant effect on participants' profile filter adoption intentions. Moreover, organizational geographic scope significantly influenced participants' donation intentions. The study's findings were discussed in relation to enhancing the social norms approach within the social media context and in relation to varied levels of organizational scope. Practically, the findings increase professional communicators' understanding of the nuances of using social media to influence behavioral change in relation to social causes."--Page ii.
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