Negative spillover in corporate–nonprofit partnerships: Exploring the effects of company–cause congruence and organization–public relationships

The purpose of this study was to explore whether negative spillover effects occur in the context of a corporate–nonprofit partnership when a crisis strikes a partner organization, and what factors might affect the degree of negative impact. The results of an experiment with 268 participants showed that a crisis in an organization made participants’ attitude less favorable and decreased their word-of-mouth intention toward its partner organization. The perceived congruence between a company and the cause of the nonprofit organization buffered the negative spillover effects, and organization–public relationships moderated the buffering effects.