The Science of Giving
Translating Consumer Psychology into Stakeholder Insight
In this session, Dr. LaBarge will review and integrate research from consumer psychology and discuss how these findings can be applied to better understand donors and volunteers.
Our discussion will include why and how they make the decisions they do about where and how much money and time to dedicate to charitable organizations.
By drawing from research in areas such as information processing, persuasion, decision-making, and self-identity, this session will contribute to a broader, data-based perspective on how to more efficiently and effectively communicate with key stakeholders of a non-profit organization.
Following the presentation will be a session dedicated to Q&A with our speaker.
Session Leader
Dr. Monica LaBarge
Prior to working at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University as an Assistant Professor of Marketing, she held the same position at the University of Montana. She regularly works with community organizations in Kingston, and is currently serving as a Board Member for the Community Foundation of Kingston & Area and as the President of the Queen’s Daycare Centre.
Dr. LaBarge's research interests centre around public policy issues in marketing and how marketing can positively affect consumer well-being. Her work has been published in journals and books including Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Non-Profit Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Media Psychology and Journal of Medical Internet Research. She was a member of the research team that won the 2020 Thomas C. Kinnear Award for the outstanding article in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, for the article entitled: “The Squander Sequence: Understanding Food Waste at Each Stage of the Consumer Decision-Making Process”
Her research examines topics including charitable giving and non-profit marketing, health promotion and health systems, food insecurity and waste, as well as how vulnerable populations (such as older adults) cope with and overcome vulnerability in the marketplace. She is a frequent speaker on these topics to practitioner groups and media outlets including CBC Radio and Television, the Globe & Mail, the National Post, CTV, Global TV, Huffington Post, and other news outlets across Canada.