Stories that matter: the effects of narrative transportation and influencer-message congruity on prosocial behavior

• Narrative techniques in storytelling enhance influencer marketing impact. • Non-profits influencers can use diverse characters in messages to be impactful. • Character-driven narratives boost immersion and increase donation. • Influencer-message fit enhances persuasiveness of the narratives. • Higher self-transcendence people donate more when influencer and their messages fit. Research on storytelling and influencer marketing in charitable donations has attracted great interest from non-profit organizations amid increasing fundraising competition. However, the synergistic effect between the two remains understudied. This study investigates a storytelling strategy − narrative persuasion using character-driven narratives and its impact in influencer marketing on donation behavior, which is underpinned by the Narrative Transportation Theory. Two experiments revealed that exposure to social media posts featuring character-driven narratives increased narrative transportation and subsequent donations. This effect was strengthened by influencer-message congruity, where alignment between the influencer’s image and message enhanced donation amounts. Crucially, the impact was moderated by self-transcendence, with individuals exhibiting high self-transcendence contributing more donations when character-driven narratives aligned with influencers’ images. This study contributes to the storytelling (narrative persuasion) in influencer marketing literature, underscoring the importance of character-driven narrative techniques in shaping consumer responses to social media posts promoting charitable donation.