Donation Decisions Research Articles

Professional financial statement users’ perceived value of carbon accounting disclosures and decision context

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how professional financial statement users use carbon accounting information in their decisions and whether this use is sensitive to changing the decision context from an investment to a donation.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 173 US professional financial statement users, the authors conduct an experiment that manipulates an investment or donation choice to evaluate how differing levels of carbon sequestration affect decision-making across contexts.FindingsCarbon sequestration information affects users’ donation decisions but does not affect investment decisions. Variation in the reliability of the information and whether the information is linked to strategy do not affect users’ decision-making.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is performed by an experiment and informs our understanding of the relevance to users of carbon sequestration disclosure. Results indicate that carbon sequestration disclosure has value for donation but not investment decisions. The authors interpret this as evidence of some value of this type of disclosure in professional financial statement users’ decision-making but not for a financially focused evaluation.Originality/valueThis paper provides unique insights into the effect of reporting carbon sequestration on decision-making. There has been significant research on the broader topic of corporate sustainability, and capital markets research indicates that the market values increased sustainability disclosure. This study extends the research by examining a specific component of carbon disclosure that is not currently widely reported and by the use of information for different types of evaluations. The results find evidence that the value of this type of carbon disclosure does not stem from a purely financial perspective but instead, from other nonpecuniary factors.

Out of the shadows: Impact of SARS experience on Chinese netizens' willingness to donate for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control

While charitable donations help to raise funds and contribute to pandemic prevention and control, there are many unanswered questions about how people make such donation decisions, especially in countries like China where charitable donations have played an increasing role in recent years. This study contributes to the literature by assessing the potential impacts of Chinese netizens' experience with the 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic on their willingness to donate for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Specifically, this study applies a difference-in-differences (DID) model to a dataset collected from a nationwide survey to examine how individuals' exposure to the SARS epidemic affects their willingness to donate to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that individuals' SARS epidemic experiences in their early lives, especially during the “childhood-adolescence” period, had a lasting and far-reaching impact on their willingness to donate toward COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Also, the impacts were likely heterogeneous by such sociodemographic factors as educational background, health status, and income level. The empirical findings highlight the importance of considering early-life experiences in developing and implementing epidemic prevention and control policies. While the SARS experience likely affected Chinese netizens' willingness to donate toward COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, lessons learned from both the SARS epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic could be used to develop more effective public health education and prevention programs as well as to increase public donations for future pandemic prevention and control.

Risk Assessment and Management for Potential Living Kidney Donors: The Role of "Third-Party" Commission.

Living kidney donation is the most common type of living-donor transplant. Italian guidelines allow the living donations from emotionally related donors only after clear and voluntary consent expressed by both the donor and the recipient involved. Living donation raises ethical and legal issues because donors voluntarily undergo a surgical procedure to remove a healthy kidney in order to help another person. According to the Italian standards, the assessment of living donor-recipient pair has to be conducted by a medical “third party”, completely independent from both the patients involved and the medical team treating the recipient. Starting from the Hospital “Città della Salute e della Scienza” of Turin (Italy) experience, including 116 living kidney donations, the Authors divided the evaluation process performed by the “Third-Party” Commission into four stages, with a particular attention to the potential donor. Living donation procedures should reflect fiduciary duties that healthcare providers have toward their patients, originating from the relationship of trust between physician and patient. In addition to that, the social implications are enormous if one considers the worldwide campaigns to promote public awareness about organ donation and transplantation, and to encourage people to register their organ donation decisions. The systematic process proposed here can be a tool that proactively reduces and controls the risks of coercion, organ trafficking, vitiated consent, insufficient weighting of donative choice, that could arise especially in donors involved in living kidney donation.

Concerns and Challenges of Living Donors When Making Decisions on Organ Donation: A Qualitative Study.

Background:Mental concerns of living donors can be a solid barrier to logical and informed decision-making for organ donation. The present study explores living donors' mental concerns and problems during the process of decision-making for organ donation.Materials and Methods:present study was performed using qualitative content analysis. Twenty-one participants were selected by purposive sampling. The data were collected and recorded through semistructured interviews and analyzed by MAX Qualitative Data Analysis software 12, based on Graneheim and Lundman's contractual content analysis method.Results:Data analysis extracted 425 codes, 13 subcategories, 3 main categories, and 1 core theme (conflict between doubt and certainty). The three main categories were individual barriers and concerns (faced by the donor), interpersonal concerns and barriers (experienced by the family), and socio-organizational concerns and barriers (at the community).Conclusions:Based on the results, donors have significant concerns and face major problems when deciding on organ donation. Therefore, health-care professionals should take into account organ donors' concerns, raise awareness of donor associations, and formulate policies to increase living donors' satisfaction.

Organ Donation Decision in Families With Brain-Dead Patients: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis.

Organ donation decision is a complicated process for bereaved families; however, its attributes and associated factors are not clear. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to analyze the concept of organ donation decision in families with brain-dead patients. Concept analysis was performed using Rodgers' evolutionary method. For this purpose, PubMed, OVID, Scopus, and ProQuest databases were searched in English from 1985 to 2019. In total, 54 articles were analyzed using the thematic analysis to identify the attributes, antecedents, and consequences of the concept. The validity of the data was provided by examining the analysis process by 2 independent researchers. Organ donation decision in these families is a complicated and conflicting process of vicarious decision-making that begins with an organ donation request: a difficult, painful, and critical experience that requires extensive interpersonal interactions and is ultimately influenced by various factors, leading to the acceptance or refusal. The antecedents include deceased-related factors, family-related factors, the quality of organ donation request, and the quality of health care professionals' interactions. The consequences include the positive outcomes (grief solace, gift of life, and promoting human values) and negative outcomes (ambiguity, doubt and regret, and psychological inconsistency). The results of this concept analysis led to a better understanding of the complexity of an organ donation decision in these families. In this way, in addition to knowledge development, it assists the health care staff to support families in making the organ donation decision. Although case managers rarely participate in organ donation, they definitely need to understand the concepts related to organ donation decision while advocating for the patients or families. The results of this concept analysis can broaden the case managers' and other health care professionals' knowledge about families' organ donation decision and help them take more effective interventions for management of this process. Case managers and the health care team can use the information of this article for informing families about brain death, negotiating with families for organ donation, preparing information, and caring and facilitating the families in making the clear and unconflicted decision.

Care bundle for family interview for pediatric organ donation

Purposeto develop a care bundle for best practices in conducting the family interview for organ and tissue donation with the families of children and adolescents. Design and methodsmethodological study, with a qualitative approach, developed in Brazil, in three stages: literature review, qualitative study with professionals and family members, and development of the care bundle. ResultsNine studies were selected and 17 health professionals and nine family members were interviewed. With this data, the care bundle was developed in three categories: communication of death, emotional support and information about organ and tissue donation. The recommendations were evaluated by five external professionals and all of them assessed the bundle as having the highest possible quality. Conclusionsthe care bundle was built following the stages of integrative literature review and interviews with professionals working in this scenario and family members who have already gone through a family interview for organ and tissue donation of children and adolescents. Practice implicationsthe use of this material is seen as an important resource to support the professional during the conduction of the family interview in a scenario as sensitive and challenging as the care to family members facing death and the decision of organ and tissue donation of children and adolescents. Furthermore, the care bundle can increase the quality of family interviews and impact the reduction of family refusals. DescriptorsPractice Guideline as Topic. Tissue and Organ Procurement. Patient Care Team. Nursing. Pediatrics. Communication.

Pointing fingers and holding hands: Effects of collaborative and confrontational NPO approaches on households' consumption and donation decisions

AbstractNonprofit organizations (NPOs) seek to influence corporate responsibility practices by pursuing either collaborative or confrontational approaches toward companies. In doing so, they frequently attempt to influence households' perceptions of companies and, by extension, their consumption decisions. To what extent NPOs adopting varying approaches toward companies are successful in affecting households' perceptions and decisions, however, remains underexamined. Furthermore, how NPOs' choice of approach impacts households' perception of and donation behavior toward NPOs remains a largely open question. In this contribution, we investigate these issues by means of an experimental approach. The results of our study indicate that both confrontational and collaborative approaches by NPOs exert a significant effect on households' perceptions of companies and their consumption intentions. Somewhat paradoxically, while confrontational approaches exert stronger effects on households' perceptions of companies and their consumption behavior, collaborative approaches are viewed as more legitimate by households, thus garnering more support in the form of donations.

It is not a big deal: a qualitative study of clinical biobank donation experience and motives

BackgroundThe success of biobanking is directly linked to the willingness of people to donate their biological materials for research and storage. Ethical issues related to patient consent are an essential component of the current biobanking agenda. The majority of data available are focused on population-based biobanks in USA, Canada and Western Europe. The donation decision process and its ethical applications in clinical populations and populations in countries with other cultural contexts are very limited. This study aimed to evaluate the decision-making experience of the clinical biobank donors, as well as psychological and social motivators and deterrents of this decision and associated ethical risks.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted in two medical institutions, in St Petersburg (Russia), in 2016–2017, among 13 donors of a clinical biobank (pregnant women, cardiac patients, and patients with multiple sclerosis) and three donation organisers—medical specialists involved in recruiting donors for a clinical biobank. Analysis of interview data was based on qualitative content analysis.ResultsDonors of a clinical biobank express beliefs in the absence of risks associated with the donation. The primary motivators for donating to the biobank were: prosocial, indirect reciprocity (response to or anticipation of an act in kind by a third party), intrinsic motivation (to enhance their self-esteem and satisfying their curiosity about the donation process), and comparability with personal values. A high level of trust in biomedical research and the particular physician can contribute to a favourable decision. The overall decision-making process regarding the biobank donation could be described as quick and not based on a careful reading of informed consent documents. The integration of biobank donation decision-making in the process of medical care might prompt patient to donate to biobank without proper consideration. The specific type of therapeutic misconception—the presence of unrealistic hope that donation could provide a direct benefit for a third person in need was discovered.ConclusionsPatients recruited to a clinical biobank in Russia have virtually no concerns as to the storage of their biomaterials. The donation decision is mainly motivated by prosocial attitudes and other factors that are similar to the motivating factors of blood donation. The fact of going through inpatient treatment and poor differentiation between donation for other people's benefit and for research purposes can make the process of obtaining consent more ethically problematic.

Respect, interaction, immediacy and the role community plays in registering an organ donation decision

BackgroundRegistering a donation decision is fundamental to increasing the number of people who donate the organs and tissues essential for transplantation, but the number of registered organ donors is insufficient to meet this demand. Most people in Australia support organ donation, but only a third have registered their decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR). We addressed this paradox by investigating how feelings of community, engendered through an ethic of hospitality and care and a non-proselytizing dialogue about organ donation, facilitated the decision to register.MethodsAn Immediate Registration Opportunity was set up in a large public hospital in NSW, Australia. The public was approached and invited to engage in an open, respectful dialogic interaction that met people where their beliefs were and allowed their concerns and fears about donation to be discussed. This included a survey that measured positive and negative beliefs about organ donation, mood, atmosphere, and feelings of community coupled with an on-the-spot opportunity to register their donation decision.ResultsOver four days, we interacted with 357 participants; 75.5% (210) of eligible-to-register participants registered on the AODR. Generalized Structural Equation Modelling highlighted that as connection to community increased, so did the salience of positive beliefs about organ donation. Positive beliefs, in turn, were negatively correlated with negative beliefs about donation and, as the strength of negative beliefs decreased, the probability of registration on the AODR increased. Participants who registered on the AODR reported stronger connection to the broader community than participants who did not register.ConclusionA respectful non-judgmental interaction that allows beliefs and concerns about organ donation to be discussed, coupled with an immediate opportunity to register, encouraged registration. Within this framework, feelings of belonging to a community were a key determinant that enabled many to make the decision to register.

The effect of unavailable donation opportunities on donation choice

In the context of charitable donation decisions, we demonstrate that adding information to the decision context about a fundraising campaign one cannot act on (i.e., an unavailable alternative) increases donations for the remaining, available campaign. At times, adding an unavailable alternative is even more effective at increasing the donation rate than adding an available alternative to the choice set, contradicting the normative assumption that having more options is better. We find preliminary evidence suggesting that the effect is driven by perceived impact—adding an unavailable alternative leads consumers to believe their donation will have a greater impact on the remaining cause. This investigation contributes to the consumer prosocial behavior literature by demonstrating the positive effect of unavailable alternatives on donation choice and identifying its extent and determinants. Future directions and practical implications for fundraising managers are discussed.

Socially responsible donation decision analysis in a supply chain under government subsidy

As an important form for firms to demonstrate social responsibility, socially responsible donation (SRD) is becoming increasingly widespread and attracting more attention. It is important to encourage firms to effectively undertake social responsibilities and improve social welfare. Recently, it has become very popular for firms to demonstrate their social responsibility through SRD campaigns. With the aim of solving the decision-making problem of a retailer-led socially responsible supply chain considering government subsidy, this study established a three-stage Stackelberg game model. By analyzing the impact of pricing and donation decisions on operations and management, either with or without government subsidy, we found that to achieve better performance, retail firms will choose to implement donation activities. However, it is not the case that the higher the donation, the better the performance. In addition, there is a gap: without government subsidy, social welfare is not optimal when members’ performance in the supply chain is maximized, and more donations are needed to maximize social welfare. This study proves that government subsidy can encourage supply chain members to generate more donations, while improving the performance of the supply chain and social welfare. We propose an optimal subsidy rate to eliminate the gap and maximize social welfare. We also analyze the impact of external parameters, including the cost parameter and consumer preference level, on the equilibrium results. Finally, we extend this research to provide management insights for businesses under uncertain market sizes and centralized decision-making scenarios.

Workshop Proceedings: Informed Consent in Biobanking–from the Key Barriers, Challenges, and Perceptions to Digital Innovations

Workshop Proceedings: Informed Consent in Biobanking–from the Key Barriers, Challenges, and Perceptions to Digital Innovations

Decisions around Deceased Organ Donation in Young South Asian Individuals in the United Kingdom.

There is a large disparity between the demand and availability of organs for transplantation from within the UK's ethnic minority groups. Our aims were to identify the perceptions, knowledge of and level of engagement with organ donation since the law changed in England in 2020. A questionnaire survey using Google Forms was designed based on prior literature and information on NHSBT website. It was distributed through media outlets and cultural/professional organizations. Status on Organ Donation Registry and Quiz scores were analyzed against multiple variables. Three hundred and sixty-five people between 18 and 24 years old completed the questionnaire. 72.3% were female, 57% were health-care students, 86.3% were of South Asian ethnicity, and 11% were immigrant respondents. Overall, 43.6% were registered to donate. South Asian groups, particularly those of Pakistani ethnicity and migrant students, were less likely to register to donate. Being more knowledgeable about the organ donation process, females, nonreligious groups, and health-care students are more likely to be registered to donate. This study identified barriers around deceased organ donation decisions and demonstrates the need for further targeted and continual education to the young South Asians individuals, to produce positive associations that will percolate to older and future generations.

Thinking, good and bad? Deliberative thinking and the singularity effect in charitable giving

Abstract Can deliberation increase charitable giving when giving is impulsive (i.e., a one-time small gift in response to an immediate appeal)? We conduct two studies in Israel and Sweden to compare two forms of deliberation, unguided and guided, in their ability to decrease the singularity effect (i.e., giving more to one than many victims), often evident in impulsive giving. Under unguided deliberation, participants were instructed to simply think hard before making a donation decision whereas participants in the guided deliberation condition were asked to think how much different prespecified decision attributes should influence their decision. We find that both types of deliberation reduce the singularity effect, as people no longer value the single victim higher than the group of victims. Importantly, this is driven by donations being decreased under deliberation only to the single victim, but not the group of victims. Thus, deliberation affects donations negatively by overshadowing the affective response, especially in situations in which affect is greatest (i.e., to a single victim). Last, the results show that neither type of deliberation significantly reversed the singularity effect, as people did not help the group significantly more than the single victim. This means that deliberate thinking decreased the overall willingness to help, leading to a lower overall valuation of people in need.

Introduction of Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations and Changes in Not-for-Profit Organizations' Financial Reporting Quality and Donors' Donation Decisions

[연구목적] 공익법인의 불투명한 재정운영과 낮은 회계품질은 그간 우리나라의 건전한 기부문화를 저해하는 주된 요인으로 지적받아 왔다. 이에 2018년부터 복식부기와 발생주의를 근간으로 하는 공익법인회계기준이 시행됨에 따라 본 연구는 이러한 제도적 변화로 인한 회계환경상의 영향을 분석하고, 관련 정책적 시사점을 제공하고자 한다. [연구방법] 본 연구는 2015∼2020년 기간 중 기부금 의존도가 높은 사회복지 유형의 공익법인을 대상으로 공익법인회계기준 시행 전후의 공익법인 회계품질 변화와 공익법인 재무정보를 활용한 기부자의 기부의사결정 변화를 분석한다. [연구결과] 분석결과 공익법인회계기준 시행 후 공익법인의 회계품질이 유의하게 개선되었다는 징후는 발견되지 않았다. 그러나 기부자는 차기 기부의사결정 시 공익법인 재무정보에 대한 의존도와 회계품질 반영도를 높이는 등 공익법인회계기준 시행에 대해 대체적으로 긍정적 인식과 기대를 지니고 있는 것으로 나타났다. [연구의 시사점] 본 연구의 분석결과는 공익법인회계기준 시행 후의 공익법인 회계환경 변화에 대한 실증증거를 제시한다. 또한 공익법인회계기준 실효성 제고를 위한 정책적 시사점을 제공하고, 공익법인의 회계품질 제고 노력 필요성을 시사한다.

Kamu Spotlarının Kan Bağışı Niyetlerine Etkisinin Covid-19 Moderatörleri Üzerinden İncelenmesi

The objective of this research was to explore the role of Public Service Ads (PSAs) on blood donation decisions and the COVID-19 related mechanisms influencing the path to donation behavior. Although blood donation is shown as a form of behavior that is strongly motivated by emotional responses and altruistic behaviors, there are uncertainties in terms of difficulties that the donors experience during the pandemic period. A sample group consisting mostly of young people (N=189), received a self-administered questionnaire containing questions intended to clarify blood donation drives following exposure to a PSA stimulus. These factors comprised of the components for identification towards PSA characters, empathy, altruistic feelings towards blood donation behavior and donation intentions, and also pandemic related determinants. Regression-based analyzes were used to test the hypotheses, and the effects of COVID-19-derived factors on the blood donation process were investigated through moderator analysis. The results revealed that the empathy and identification levels towards PSA characters vary due to presenting whether the donor-type or the patient-type. No statistically significant results were found between the interactions of the risk of getting infected and altruistic feelings on blood donation intentions. However, it is concluded that pandemic fatigue significantly predicted the relationships between empathetic responses and altruistic feelings.

The effects of solicitation and target amounts on consumers’ charitable giving decisions

This research examines the effect of double reference values in the context of charitable giving decision-making. We investigate how the two types of information that commonly appear in charitable giving campaigns—solicitation amount (e.g., “Your $1 matters”) and target amount (e.g., “Help Us Raise $305,000”)—interact to determine consumers’ decisions on how much to donate. Through four studies, we demonstrate that solicitation amount, compared with target amount, exerts a stronger influence on consumers’ donation decisions. Target amount influences the donation decision only when it is presented alone in the message. Furthermore, the study results demonstrate that using a small solicitation amount to enhance compliance can backfire, reducing the average donation amount and the total donation revenue. This study offers important practical implications to marketers for designing an effective charitable giving campaign, especially for the selective use of potential reference values in the solicitation message.

Neural Responses to Mandatory and Voluntary Donation Impact Charitable Giving Decisions: An Event-Related Potentials Study.

The present study aimed to explore the influence of donation amounts on donation decisions in different donation contexts and to reveal the psychological mechanisms. Furthermore, we focused on how to enhance individuals’ intention to donate voluntarily. We designed an experiment on donation decisions, employing event-related potentials (ERPs) to probe the effect of psychological mechanisms on donation decisions by detecting the neural basis of donation decision-making. Based on S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response) theory, we used donation contexts and donation amounts (stimuli) to induce psychological activity in the participants (organism) and then influence individual donation decision behaviors (response). Moreover, we applied psychological reactance (PR) theory to discuss the effect of donation context on decisions and the corresponding psychological process. The behavioral results showed that donation contexts (mandatory vs. voluntary) were significantly related to the donation amounts (i.e., less vs. more money that the charity received than money that the participants donated). At the ERP level, compared with mandatory donation, voluntary donation evoked a larger P2 amplitude when the charity received less money. In addition, a larger mean amplitude of LPP was elicited by voluntary donation compared to mandatory donation. This study provides practical implications for charity organizers to guide people to donate voluntarily.

Trying and Failing: Biases in Donor Aversion to Rejection

Non‐profit organizations (NPOs) play a critical role in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, directing resources from donors to aid recipients. To achieve this, they often rely on donations of physical goods, which can not only further the mission of the NPO, but also give new life to used goods destined for the landfill. However, not all donations are wanted or needed—the NPO may be space constrained or the donation may be of poor quality. Accepting unwanted donations imposes non‐trivial operational costs on the NPO or its downstream partners. Nonetheless, NPOs often hesitate to reject unwanted items, fearing negative repercussions for future donations. To better understand these repercussions, we study how donors respond to rejection using a controlled experiment. Subjects repeatedly choose whether to complete a real‐effort task that generates a donation, which is rejected with a fixed probability whose value is unknown to them. We measure subjects’ donation decisions and beliefs about the probability that their donations are accepted. We compare these measures against a for‐profit experimental condition wherein the subject, not an NPO, receives the payment generated by the real‐effort task. Our results identify a mechanism by which rejections affect donations: via a reduction in donors’ beliefs about future success. Moreover, we identify a novel instance of self‐serving bias: when high effort is required to make a donation, subjects’ beliefs respond significantly more negatively to rejection in the donation condition than in the for‐profit condition. We propose ways in which NPOs can alleviate this bias.

A scoping review of the perceptions of death in the context of organ donation and transplantation

BackgroundSocio-cultural perceptions surrounding death have profoundly changed since the 1950s with development of modern intensive care and progress in solid organ transplantation. Despite broad support for organ transplantation, many fundamental concepts and practices including brain death, organ donation after circulatory death, and some antemortem interventions to prepare for transplantation continue to be challenged. Attitudes toward the ethical issues surrounding death and organ donation may influence support for and participation in organ donation but differences between and among diverse populations have not been studied.ObjectivesIn order to clarify attitudes toward brain death, organ donation after circulatory death and antemortem interventions in the context of organ donation, we conducted a scoping review of international English-language quantitative surveys in various populations.Study appraisalA search of literature up to October 2020 was performed, using multiple databases. After screening, 45 studies were found to meet pre-specified inclusion criteria.Results32 studies examined attitudes to brain death, predominantly in healthcare professionals. In most, around 75% of respondents accepted brain death as equivalent to death of the person. Less common perspectives included equating death with irreversible coma and willingness to undertake organ donation even if it caused death. 14 studies examined attitudes to organ donation following circulatory death. Around half of respondents in most studies accepted that death could be confidently diagnosed after only 5 min of cardiorespiratory arrest. The predominant reason was lack of confidence in doctors or diagnostic procedures. Only 6 studies examined attitudes towards antemortem interventions in prospective organ donors. Most respondents supported minimally invasive procedures and only where specific consent was obtained.ConclusionsOur review suggests a considerable proportion of people, including healthcare professionals, have doubts about the medical and ethical validity of modern determinations of death. The prognosis of brain injury was a more common concern in the context of organ donation decision-making than certainty of death.