Psychological ownership and identity motives in blood donation

🎓 Citation Information:

• Author(s): Abigail R.-A. Edwards, Barbara M. Masser, Fiona K. Barlow
• Title: Psychological ownership and identity motives in blood donation
• Journal/Source: Vox Sanguinis, 2023;118:616–623
• Publication Year: 2023
• Pages: 616-623
• DOI/URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/vox.13479 ↗
• Affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia; Research and Development, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Australia; National Institute for Health and Care Research Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Donor Health and Behaviour, UK

🌌 Contextual Insight:

• In a Sentence: The study examines how psychological ownership of a blood collection agency relates to donor identity and intentions to continue donating blood.
• Keywords: psychological ownership, donor retention, identity, donor motivation

• Gap/Need: Prior research focused on the role of donor identity but not the donor’s relationship with the collection agency. This paper explores psychological ownership as a novel factor.
• Novelty: Introduces the concept of psychological ownership to the donor retention literature and tests its relationship to identity and behavior.
• Target Audience: Academics studying donor motivation and retention, as well as blood collection agencies seeking to improve strategies.
• Jargon Density: Some specialized terms but overall the paper is accessible for non-experts.
• Recommendation: Recommended for graduate students, researchers, and professionals in donation/non-profit contexts.

🧭 Purpose/Objective:

• Goal: Test a model where past donation behavior increases psychological ownership, strengthening donor identity and intentions.
• Research Questions/Hypotheses: Past donations positively relate to ownership, identity, and intentions via mediation. Ownership and identity predict intent over attitude alone.
• Significance: Effective interventions are needed to develop donor identity and improve retention beyond first donations.

🎓 Background Knowledge:

• Core Concepts: Donor identity theory, psychological ownership, donation behavior
• Preliminary Theories: Identity theory accounts for sustained donation via role validation over time.
• Contextual Timeline: Donor retention declining as populations age requires novel solutions beyond identity alone.
• Prior Research: Provided initial evidence for identity predicting retention but not the donor’s agency experience.
• Terminology: Donor status definitions, psychological ownership, behavioral intentions, mediation effects
• Essential Context: Testing effective, scalable identity interventions beyond limited intensive modeling studies.

📝 Methodology:

• Research Design & Rationale: Cross-sectional online survey to test hypotheses; Appropriate to examine relationships of theoretical constructs.
• Participants/Subjects: Donors (N=255) via community page and Prolific; lapsed (N=87) and non-donors (N=126) via Prolific.
• Instruments/Tools: Established multi-item scales adapted for context to assess key variables.
• Data Collection: Online self-report survey of donation history and perceptions.
• Data Analysis Techniques: Bivariate correlations, serial mediation using PROCESS macro.
• Ethical Considerations: Approval from UQ and Lifeblood ethics committees. Informed consent and ability to withdraw.
• Replicability Score: 8/10 as survey tools/analysis plan detailed, though data not public.

📊 Main Results/Findings:

• Metrics: Donations, ownership, identity, intentions – definitions, importance for theoretical model, implications.
• Outcomes: Past donations positively related to ownership and identity, which positively predicted intentions. Ownership increased with donation experience.
• Statistical Significance: All indirect effects significant except ownership alone on intentions.

🔄 Discussion & Interpretation:

• Authors’ Views: Findings provide initial support for incorporating psychological ownership in identity models of donation behavior and testing novel identity interventions.
• Comparative Analysis: Adds new dimension of agency experience to existing identity theory not fully explaining behavior.

❌ Limitations:

• List: Cross-sectional design prevents causality claims. Self-report subject to bias/error.

🖋️ Conclusions:

• Takeaways: Psychological ownership could bolster donor identity and merits further exploration for scalable identity interventions.
• Practical Implications: Blood services may foster ownership, e.g. through recognition programs.

🚀 Future Work:

• Authors’ Proposals: Longitudinal research following changes over time; experimental priming of ownership.

📚 References: Several seminal identity theory and psychological ownership papers referenced.

🎯 Relevance:

• Significance: Introduces a potentially impactful factor for improving donor retention strategies.
• Real-world Implications: If ownership strengthens identity and behavior as suggested, blood services could apply ownership-building programs.

🌐 Textual Mind Map:

Main Branches:

• Purpose/Objective
• Background Knowledge
• Methodology
• Main Results/Findings
• Discussion & Interpretation
• Limitations
• Conclusions
• Future Work

Central Ideas:

• Examining role of psychological ownership
• Donor identity theory and retention issues
• Survey design and analysis approach
• Relationship between variables of interest
• Integrating findings into identity framework
• Constraints of cross-sectional data
• Potential utility of ownership for interventions
• Avenues for extending research

Significant Facts:

• Declining first-time donors and aging populations increasing demand
• Identity validated through repeated donations motivating continuity
• Ownership predicted intentions indirectly and directly with experience

Key Arguments:

• Ownership could boost identity formation beyond donations alone
• Introducing donor’s experience with agency provides new dimension
• Scalable identity interventions through ownership merit exploration
• Findings provide initial empirical basis for future experimental tests

Interconnections:

• Theoretical context motivates research questions
• Methodology tests relationships between factors
• Results corroborate hypotheses and contextualize in framework
• Limitations inform needed future research directions

🌟 Key Quotes:

“We propose that increasing a donors’ subjective sense of psychological ownership over a BCA may provide a potential novel avenue to strengthen donor identity.”

🧠 Personal Insights/Comments:

• The authors effectively build a case for exploring psychological ownership as a potentially impactful and scalable factor in donor retention. However, more research is clearly needed to establish causal mechanisms and address limitations.
• This conceptualizes the donor experience more holistically by considering their relationship with the collection agency, not just donating itself, providing a worthwhile new dimension for retention strategies.
• If ownership does strengthen identity formation, programs recognizing donors in personal ways could help motivate continuity, representing a low-barrier alternative worth blood services exploring.
• The cross-sectional design prevents strong conclusions, but sets the stage for valuable experimental and longitudinal work elucidating psychological processes over time.