Dynamic norms and organ donation

Abstract

We conduct three experiments with over 1600 subjects to examine the impact of dynamic norms on organ donation. We find that dynamic norms (low-prevalence behaviors framed as increasing in popularity over time) significantly increase organ donor registration, and that this effect is mainly driven by dynamic trends (prevalence of behaviors with a growth trend). The positive effect of dynamic trends on organ donor registration is better than that of combined norms (low-descriptive but high-injunctive behaviors). The underlying mechanism may be future norm perceptions and moral emotions (elevation). Our paper presents a novel and effective strategy to increase organ donation.