Short- and long-term effects of incentives on prosocial behavior: The case of ride vouchers to a blood collection agency
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.A transportation voucher boosted blood donation rates initially but increased wait times, potentially reducing long-term donor return. The incentive
Area Of Science
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
- Behavioral Economics
Background
- Low blood donation rates pose significant challenges in developing countries.
- Identifying effective strategies to increase blood donor recruitment and retention is crucial for public health systems.
Purpose Of The Study
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a barrier-removal incentive (transportation voucher) on blood donation rates.
- To analyze the short-term and long-term impacts of this incentive on donor behavior.
Main Methods
- Longitudinal analysis of 23,750 donors at a Brazilian blood collection agency (BCA) from March 2018 to May 2020.
- Examination of donation attempts, successful donations, and return rates following the incentive campaign.
Main Results
- The transportation voucher significantly increased donation attempts and successful donations on the campaign day.
- A notable increase in donor waiting times occurred during the intervention, correlating with a negative impact on 24-month return rates.
- The overall net effect of the incentive on blood donation was positive.
Conclusions
- Barrier-removal incentives can effectively boost immediate blood donation but require careful management to mitigate unintended consequences like increased wait times.
- Balancing short-term recruitment gains with potential long-term donor retention is essential for sustainable blood supply.
- Findings offer valuable insights for blood collection agencies seeking to optimize donor recruitment and retention strategies.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Related Concept Videos
Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people is called prosocial behavior. Why do people help other people? Is personal benefit such as feeling good about oneself the only reason people help one another?
Research suggests there are many other reasons. Altruism is people’s desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping. In fact, people acting in altruistic ways may disregard the personal costs associated with helping. For example, news accounts of the...
Researchers have tested many persuasion strategies, including the foot-in-the door and the door-in-the-face techniques, in a variety of contexts. Ultimately, the principles are effective in selling products and changing people’s attitude, ideas, and behaviors (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
Get Your Foot in the Door
The first effective strategy is the foot-in-the-door technique (Cialdini, 2001; Pliner, Hart, Kohl, & Saari, 1974): If a persuader—such as a...
Incentive theory, or the "pull theory" of motivation, suggests that external rewards primarily drive behavior. Individuals are motivated to engage in activities when they anticipate a desirable outcome. This is why people often work hard for promotions or study intensively to achieve high grades. These incentives can be tangible, physical rewards such as money or promotions, or intangible, non-physical rewards like praise and social recognition.
The theory differentiates between...
Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
Inclusive fitness is an individual’s ability to pass down their genes—both through their offspring and the offspring of close relatives with shared genes. If an animal helps a close relative improve their reproductive success, this...
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
A good example of social proof is from laugh tracks on television shows. Fullery & Skeffington (1974) found that adding group laughter sounds to material increased how humorous the participants perceived that material, regardless of whether the content itself was funny or not. By adding a laugh...
Altruistic behaviors are “unselfish” behaviors—those that help another individual at the expense of the individual carrying out the behavior. Despite the negative consequences for the altruistic animal, these behaviors are thought to have evolved for several reasons.
Reasons for Altruistic Behaviors
First, most altruistic behavior occurs between individuals that are related. Altruism is particularly pronounced in animals that live in colonies with one reproductively capable...