Incentives, such as funeral expense reimbursements and direct payments for surviving families, have been suggested to increase organ supply from post-mortem donors. Following Heyman and Ariely’s 2004 findings on the impact of gift labeling and reward magnitude on behaviors in altruistic environments, this study utilizes a full factorial survey design to examine subjects’ moral assessment of funeral benefits and cash prizes, and the effects these incentives had on the willingness to provide family consent (WTC). Regression analysis showed that funeral aids, when presented as gifts, outperformed direct payments in all ethical principles. Furthermore, a full funeral service without a revealed value was found to increase WTC by 8.5% from the current system.
Cash, Funeral Benefits or Nothing at All: How to Incentivize Family Consent for Organ Donation Available to Purchase
I based this article on my unpublished master’s thesis at the University of Cologne (Pham, 2019). I’m sincerely thankful for the support given by Prof. Masao Ogaki, Prof. Kiryl Khalmetski, Prof. Mónika López-Anuarbe, Prof. David Chavanne, Prof. Donald Peppard, Tina & Marc Forster, and my friends who participated in the pilot survey. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers, who offered very valuable feedback to improve the article.
Pham V (2021), "Cash, Funeral Benefits or Nothing at All: How to Incentivize Family Consent for Organ Donation". Review of Behavioral Economics, Vol. 8 No. 2 pp. 147–192, doi: https://doi.org/10.1561/105.00000136
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