University of Hamburg, Research Group on Health Marketing, Hamburg, Germany.
Institute for Marketing, University of Hamburg, Moorweidenstr. 18, Hamburg, 20148, Germany.
Transfusion. 2019 Mar;59(3):1002-1015. doi: 10.1111/trf.15085. Epub 2018 Dec 14.
Increasing competition by nonprofit organizations provides blood donors with many options to engage themselves prosocially (e.g., by donating money or time). While most previous studies focused only on one form of donation, only a few studies analyzed two or more forms. This research gap is remarkable, as prior research has shown that a substantial portion of donors engage in more than one form of donation. In addition, studies have shown that donors' main reason for lapsing is switching to another donation form.
This study relies on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. In total, 5640 (non)blood donors are analyzed over a period of 5 years, alongside their engagement in four forms of prosocial behavior: money donations, taking care of persons in need, volunteer work, and citizens' initiatives. We control for sociodemographic, psychographic, and health-related factors and rely on propensity score matching to reduce selection effects often observed in the blood donation context.
There are significant differences between blood donors and nondonors in their engagement in prosocial behaviors. Blood donors (vs. nondonors) are more likely to engage in other prosocial behavior forms, namely, donating money, volunteering, and participating in citizens' initiatives. If people start donating blood, they also are more likely to act in other prosocial ways, namely, donating money and volunteering. If people stop donating blood, they also are more likely to stop other forms of prosocial behavior, namely, volunteering and participating in citizens' initiatives.
This study provides new insights into blood donors' prosocial behavior. While most previous studies neglected blood donors' engagement in other prosocial behaviors, this study highlights the fact that blood banks need to be aware of blood donor switching behavior between all prosocial behavior forms. As most blood banks also are providing other types of donations forms, they can use this knowledge and cross-recruit blood donors to engage in other forms of prosocial behavior.
非营利组织之间的竞争加剧，为献血者提供了许多参与亲社会活动的选择（例如，捐赠金钱或时间）。虽然大多数先前的研究仅关注一种形式的捐赠，但只有少数研究分析了两种或更多形式。这一研究差距很显著，因为先前的研究表明，相当一部分献血者参与了不止一种形式的捐赠。此外，研究表明，献血者停止献血的主要原因是转向另一种献血形式。
本研究依赖于德国社会经济面板的纵向数据。在 5 年的时间里，共分析了 5640 名（非）献血者及其参与四种亲社会行为的情况：金钱捐赠、照顾有需要的人、志愿服务和公民倡议。我们控制了社会人口统计学、心理统计学和与健康相关的因素，并依赖倾向评分匹配来减少血液捐赠背景中经常观察到的选择效应。
在参与亲社会行为方面，献血者和非献血者之间存在显著差异。与非献血者相比，献血者更有可能参与其他亲社会行为形式，即捐赠金钱、志愿服务和参与公民倡议。如果人们开始献血，他们也更有可能以其他亲社会的方式行事，即捐赠金钱和志愿服务。如果人们停止献血，他们也更有可能停止其他形式的亲社会行为，即志愿服务和参与公民倡议。
本研究为献血者的亲社会行为提供了新的见解。虽然大多数先前的研究忽略了献血者参与其他亲社会行为的情况，但本研究强调了一个事实，即血库需要意识到献血者在所有亲社会行为形式之间的转换行为。由于大多数血库也提供其他类型的捐赠形式，他们可以利用这一知识并交叉招募献血者参与其他形式的亲社会行为。
