Member Values Over Time. A Study of the Relationship Between Member Values,Age and Length Of Membership

Expectations of association members change over time depending on two factors: age and length of membership. In the product- and service-marketing literature, the fact of changing needs and expectations during a customer’s life cycle is already well explored. So far, this is not the case in the research on members of nonprofit organizations. This paper closes this research gap from a member-value perspective by discussing the links among age, length of membership, and value perception. Survey data from 1,613 members of a Swiss hiking trail association reveal that both temporal metrics show significant positive relationships with all member-value dimensions: enjoyment, affection, identity, power, participation, understanding, and safety. In this respect, length of membership shows stronger effects than age and the only member value unaffected by time is that of individual economic goals. The paper closes with practical implications for the management of membership associations.