A behavioral model of the dual motive approach to behavioral economics and social exchange

Notwithstanding the prevalent use of donor registration prediction models grounded by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), registration behavior continues to remain low. A collective donor behavior (CDB) model underpinned by social exchange theory is introduced and its predictive ability is tested against a baseline TPB model using an online survey of adults ( n = 1,055). Individuals who indicated they were not registered donors were contacted 3 months later to track their registration status. The CDB model was found to explain 45% of variance in registration intentions which was comparable in performance to TPB. Normative commitment was found to be strongly associated with registration intentions, and both institutional trust and trust in others fostered this commitment. The CDB model provides different insights on how to increase donor registration intentions. Namely, interventions need to facilitate individual positive experiences with institutions such as hospitals and strengthen social inclusion perceptions.

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The (In)Elasticity of Moral Ignorance

Management Science ◽

10.1287/mnsc.2021.4153 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marta Serra-Garcia ◽

Nora Szech

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Economics ◽

Decision Analysis ◽

Social Norm ◽

Demand Curve ◽

Behavioral Model ◽

Monetary Incentives ◽

Keen Interest ◽

Moral Ignorance ◽

Percentage Points ◽

The Face

Ignorance enables individuals to act immorally. This is well known in policy circles, in which there is keen interest in lowering moral ignorance. In this paper, we study how the demand for moral ignorance responds to monetary incentives and how the demand curve for ignorance reacts to social norm messages. We propose a simple behavioral model in which individuals suffer moral costs when behaving selfishly in the face of moral information. In several experiments, we find that moral ignorance decreases by more than 30 percentage points with small monetary incentives, but we find no significant change with social norm messages, and we document strong persistence of ignorance across moral contexts. Our findings indicate that rather simple messaging interventions may have limited effects on ignorance. In contrast, changes in incentives could be highly effective. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis.

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Handbook of Behavioral Economics - Foundations and Applications 2

10.1016/s2352-2399(18)x0003-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Economics

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Social exchange processes, health behaviour, and health behaviour change

Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie ◽

10.1026/0943-8149.16.3.131 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 131-134

Author(s):

Urte Scholz ◽

Rainer Hornung

Keyword(s):

Social Exchange ◽

Health Behaviour ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Smoking Behaviour ◽

Self Report ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Main Research ◽

Research Areas ◽

Exchange Processes ◽

Multi Method Approach

Abstract. The main research areas of the Social and Health Psychology group at the Department of Psychology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, are introduced. Exemplarily, three currently ongoing projects are described. The project ”Dyadic exchange processes in couples facing dementia” examines social exchanges in couples with the husband suffering from dementia and is based on Equity Theory. This project applies a multi-method approach by combining self-report with observational data. The ”Swiss Tobacco Monitoring System” (TMS) is a representative survey on smoking behaviour in Switzerland. Besides its survey character, the Swiss TMS also allows for testing psychological research questions on smoking with a representative sample. The project, ”Theory-based planning interventions for changing nutrition behaviour in overweight individuals”, elaborates on the concept of planning. More specifically, it is tested whether there is a critical amount of repetitions of a planning intervention (e.g., three or nine times) in order to ensure long-term effects.

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