Motivations and factors influencing member recruitment, maintenance and recommendation in membership associations

: the case of AAACM

Abstract

This thesis aimed at gaining insights on motivations and factors that influence membership recruitment, maintenance and advocacy, followed by the identification of putative criteria for segmentation, in the context of the association of former students of military school (AAACM), a non-for-profit organization that focuses primarily in philanthropy towards this specific community of individuals, and in developing a diverse set of actions, contributing to strengthen bonds between them. Moreover, the information collected was used to identify the main strategic opportunities to pursue and respective drivers to target them.In alignment with the available literature, the results identified three main motivations for joining AAACM, which were social responsibility (expressive), professional interest (career-related) and relationships and leisure (instrumental). By analyzing how these motivations were expressed, five different segments were identified (social creatures, all-rounders, career-driven, indifferent and humanistic), which exhibited different combinations of these motivations. As for member retention factors, trust and satisfaction showed to be directly related to continued fee payment, and their variability among segments was consistent with their fee payment rates. Unfortunately, it was not possible to link any of the studied variables to member recommendation.Finally, these findings were key in uncovering the strategic priorities for AAACM, which consist on raising satisfaction levels in what concerns events and communication, with direct impact in member retention, increase engagement with the career-driven segment, which is clearly underserved and dissatisfied, and explore how trust levels, critical for member retention, can be increased.

Date of Award	3 May 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Celeste (Supervisor)