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Published September 8, 2017 | Submitted
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Choosing Among Public Interest Groups: Membership, Activism, and Retention in Political Organizations

Abstract

Contemporary scholars who have explored why citizens join organizations have employed assumptions that are untenable for understanding other member choices. An analysis of data on four contrasting public interest groups demonstrates that it is possible to develop a general perspective for explaining member decision-making in organizations. Decisions about which association to join, whether or not to stay, and whether to be an activist or to remain in the rank and file can all be understood as reflections of a process in which imperfectly informed citizens join a group, learn more about it, and subsequently make more knowledgeable choices. The experiential search perspective provides a coherent explanation for a host of interrelated citizen decisions.

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Created:
August 19, 2023
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January 14, 2024