Title: Impact of self-schema congruity in charity website design

Authors: Jinwoong Lee; Dong-Heon Kwak; Deborah Erdos Knapp; Alan A. Brandyberry

Addresses: Department of Accounting, Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Kent State University, 475 Terrace Dr., Kent, OH 44240, USA ' Department of Management and Information Systems, Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Kent State University, 475 Terrace Dr., Kent, OH 44240, USA ' Department of Management and Information Systems, Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Kent State University, 475 Terrace Dr., Kent, OH 44240, USA ' Department of Management and Information Systems, Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Kent State University, 475 Terrace Dr., Kent, OH 44240, USA

Abstract: Effectively designed websites can positively enhance the donors' perceptions to facilitate online donation. Drawing on self-schema congruity theory, this study examines the impact of self-schema congruity (SC) in the context of charity website design. This study hypothesises that SC increases perceived social presence, perceived appeal relevance, and intention to use a charity website for donation purposes. We further hypothesise that perceived social presence and perceived appeal relevance increase intention to use. To validate SC and test the research hypotheses, we conducted two experiments. The results of structural equation modelling support our hypotheses. Several theoretical and practical contributions are discussed.

Keywords: self-schema congruity; perceived social presence; perceived appeal relevance; use intention; charity websites; online donations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2025.149541

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2025 Vol.50 No.3, pp.393 - 410

Received: 24 Jan 2022
Accepted: 14 Feb 2022
Published online: 07 Nov 2025 *

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