The door-in-the-face compliance strategy: An individual differences analysis of two models in an AIDS fundraising context

This study examined the reciprocal concessions and self-presentation accounts of the door-in-the-face (DITF) compliance strategy within a fundraising context. Subjects were classified as low or high in exchange orientation, and as low or high in approval motivation on the basis of a pretest questionnaire. As predicted on the basis of reciprocal concessions theory, a significant interaction was obtained between exchange-orientation and message strategy. For high exchange-oriented subjects, the DITF message strategy substantially increased compliance rates, relative to the single-request control message. However, low exchange-oriented subjects were actually more charitable in response to the control message. Analysis of a post-treatment measure of obligation to the requestor revealed that obligation could account for less than half of the interaction effect, a finding which is inconsistent with concessions theory. Self-presentation theory suggests that DITF should work best when directed toward targets who are high in their approval motivation, but this hypothesized interaction between approval motivation and message strategy did not materialize.