Browsing by Author "Merz, Eva-Maria"

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    How public trust and healthcare quality relate to blood donation behavior: Cross-cultural evidence
    (Sage, 2024) Graf, Caroline; Suanet, Bianca; Wiepking, Pamala; Merz, Eva-Maria; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
    Blood donors are indispensable for enabling a myriad of medical procedures and treatments. We examined how public trust in the healthcare system and healthcare quality relate to individuals' likelihood of donating blood, using survey data from representative samples of 28 European countries (N = 27,868). Our preregistered analyses revealed that country-level public trust, but not healthcare quality, predicted individual propensity to donate blood. Notably, public trust decreased over time in many countries, while healthcare quality increased. Our results highlight the role of subjective perceptions of the healthcare system, rather than the objective state of healthcare, for blood donation behavior in Europe.
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    Social norms offer explanation for inconsistent effects of incentives on prosocial behavior
    (Elsevier, 2023-07) Graf, Caroline; Suanet, Bianca; Wiepking, Pamala; Merz, Eva-Maria; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
    Humans are widely considered to be susceptible to incentives, which are frequently employed to encourage specific behaviors. However, incentives have surprisingly inconsistent effects when used to motivate prosocial behavior – sometimes producing no behavioral change or even backfiring. To explain these inconsistencies, we extended a prominent image-based model of prosocial behavior, based on the idea that social norms shape the reputational consequences of receiving incentives. We tested the key predictions of this model by examining the blood donation behavior of 26,000 individuals from 28 European countries. Our preregistered analyses revealed that social norms can indeed predict how incentives, either in the form of financial payments or time off work, relate to individual-level blood donation behavior. Incentives are associated with higher levels of prosociality if they align with existing norms. The results suggest that humans may not be universally persuaded by incentives to behave prosocially, but that the effectiveness of incentives depends on social norms.
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    The social contagion of prosocial behaviour: How neighbourhood blood donations influence individual donation behaviour
    (Elsevier, 2023-09) Schröder, Joris Melchior; Merz, Eva-Maria; Suanet, Bianca; Wiepking, Pamala; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
    Life-saving transfusions and numerous other medical treatments are enabled by a minority of people that donate blood. But why do some people repeatedly engage in such prosocial behaviour, especially when it is costly to themselves? This study examines to what extent social contagion within neighbourhoods – changing behaviour in response to the behaviour of others – affects repeated blood donation behaviour. We draw on longitudinal survey and register data from a representative sample of blood donors in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2014 (N = 15,090). Using a panel data model and an instrumental variable approach, we find that donors are positively affected by donations made by other donors living in their neighbourhood. This effect does not seem to be mediated by normative or informational social influence. Exploratory analysis further attributes this finding to social contagion within donor couples. Our study contributes to the literature on repeated blood donation behaviour, and can inform retention strategies of blood banks.