Abstract
Blood donation is considered as one of the purest forms of altruism. Plasma donation, in contrast, despite being a similar process, is mostly a paid activity in which donors are compensated for their contribution to the production of therapeutic preparations. This creates a so-called “plasma paradox:” If remuneration is promised for a socially useful effort, volunteers with altruistic motives might be deterred. At the same time, regular plasma donors who pursue the monetary benefits of donation might drop out if remuneration stops. The same controversy can be caught in the messages of most plasma donation companies as well: They promise a monetary reward (MR), and at the same time, highlight the altruistic component of donation. In this study, we tested the assumption that emphasizing the social significance enhances the willingness to donate blood plasma more effectively than either MR or the combination of these two incentives. This had to be rejected since there was no significant difference between the three scenarios. Furthermore, we also hypothesized that individuals might be more motivated to donate plasma if there is a possibility of offering an MR toward other socially beneficial aims. We found an increased willingness to donate in scenarios enabling “double altruism”, that is, when donating plasma for therapeutic use and transferring their remuneration to nongovernmental organizations, is an option. We propose relying on double altruism to resolve the plasma paradox, and suggest that it could serve as a starting point for the development of more optimized means for donor recruitment.
Highlights
Medical therapeutic blood products, for instance, drugs made from blood plasma, play a crucial role in the health service enabling therapeutic interventions for both inheritable and acquired conditions (World Health Organization, 2020a)
From the perspective of supplying blood products, plasma donation, during which blood cells are returned into the body of the donor and only plasma is collected, has more advantages than blood donation; for instance, more products can be produced from a single donation, and it has fewer negative consequences for the donor (Ciavarella, 1992; Farrugia et al, 2015)
The question is: What factors explain the difference in motivation between blood and plasma donors? Given that 97% of the blood collected in the European region comes from unpaid donors (World Health Organization, 2020a), and in a paid context, monetary reward (MR) are more important for donors than for those who have never donated (Tscheulin and Lindenmeier, 2005)
Summary
For instance, drugs made from blood plasma, play a crucial role in the health service enabling therapeutic interventions for both inheritable (e.g., anemia) and acquired (e.g., cancer) conditions (World Health Organization, 2020a). When nondonors were asked why they did not donate, the most common response was: “No one asked me personally” (Piliavin, 1990) Taking these findings into consideration, one effective way to recruit plasma donors is to contact the nondonors personally on behalf of the collection sites. Given that 97% of the blood collected in the European region comes from unpaid donors (World Health Organization, 2020a), and in a paid context, MRs are more important for donors than for those who have never donated (Tscheulin and Lindenmeier, 2005). This suggests that people can be motivated by nonfinancial incentives to donate. It is possible that using an incentive we call “double altruism”, many new donors could be recruited if plasma centers would provide the opportunity to transfer the MR they receive to charities, creating a new form of altruism that is compatible with payments
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