Start Date

11-8-2016

Description

Membership in professional associations are meant to provide a sense of recognition and belonging among its members. Membership to voluntary professional associations (VPAs) takes this a step further by providing a passion for a cause. However, these motivations can diminish over time and can eventually disappear. This is especially true in non-licensing professions like Project Management or IT (Information Technology) implementation. Certifications like PMP, CISA and CISM although, good to have, are not legally mandatory maintain to practice as in accounting where a CFA or CPA is mandatory. This paper combines the Social Identity Theory and the communication ecology theory to propose a model that could provide an incentive for members to continue their membership with the association. We argue that by leveraging the social media, VPAs can continue to provide value to its members. While making significant theoretical contributions, this paper is also relevant to a practitioner.

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Aug 11th, 12:00 AM

Virtual Social Interaction – An online Model to Improve Retention Rates in Voluntary Professional Associations.

Membership in professional associations are meant to provide a sense of recognition and belonging among its members. Membership to voluntary professional associations (VPAs) takes this a step further by providing a passion for a cause. However, these motivations can diminish over time and can eventually disappear. This is especially true in non-licensing professions like Project Management or IT (Information Technology) implementation. Certifications like PMP, CISA and CISM although, good to have, are not legally mandatory maintain to practice as in accounting where a CFA or CPA is mandatory. This paper combines the Social Identity Theory and the communication ecology theory to propose a model that could provide an incentive for members to continue their membership with the association. We argue that by leveraging the social media, VPAs can continue to provide value to its members. While making significant theoretical contributions, this paper is also relevant to a practitioner.