The role of other people Blood Donation v3

The role of other people and emotion for blood donation: An altruistic social service

Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Kay Russell

Josephine Previte

Charmaine Glavas

Charmine Härtel

Geoff Smith

AMA Servsig, 14 June 2014 Thessaloniki Greece

Purpose

Challenge

• Blood donation is necessary for a sustainable health service

• In Australia reliant of altruistic donations

• Marketing exchange: bodily fluid not money

• Beneficiary: other people• Challenge: retention and

acquisition of donors

Key motivators and barriers for donors

• Emotions• Social norms and

expectations• Peer pressure• Social support• Convenience

Purpose

Challenge

• Blood donation is necessary for a sustainable health service

• In Australia reliant of altruistic donations

• Marketing exchange: bodily fluid not money

• Beneficiary: other people• Challenge: retention and

acquisition of donors

Its all about emotions and other people

• Emotions are a social phenomena

• Norms and expectations arise in social contexts

• Peer pressure is social• Support comes from

other people and overcomes convenience issues

Overcoming emotional barriers to blood donation by leveraging the role of other people will influence donation rates in Australia

How do other people influence customers in altruistic services?

What we know…..

• Social servicescape (Tombs and McColl-Kennedy 2003)

• Emotional contagion, (Hatfield, Cacioppo and Rapson 1994)

• Customer-to-customer co-creation (Rihova et al 2013)

• Employee-customer interface through interaction service quality (c.f Brady and Cronin 2001)

• Communication such as word-of-mouth and referrals (Babin, Yong-Li, Eun-Ju and Griffin 2005).

What we don’t know…..

• While prior research identifies that other people influence customers, we do not know HOW this occurs.

• Prior research has been on marketing exchanges relating to money but not the body

• Prior research has been on commercial not altruistic services

Theoretical Frameworks

Key motivations/Barriers: Emotions e.g. anxiety and fear (Masser et al 2009)

and social support (Russell-Bennett et al 2012)

Affect-as-information theory (Clore, Schwartz and

Conway 1994; Clore)

Social support from coping theory (Vitaliano et al

1985).

Theoretical Frameworks

Key motivations/Barriers: Emotions e.g. anxiety and fear (Masser et al 2009)

and social support (Russell-Bennett et al 2012)

Affect-as-information theory (Clore, Schwartz and

Conway 1994; Clore)

Social support from coping theory (Vitaliano et al

1985).

Affect-as-Information Theory

• Emotions are created by the presence, reactions, and behaviors of other people (Parkinson 1996)

• Emotions then influence the creation of

judgements and decisions (such as whether to donate or not)

• Emotionsinformation decisions behaviour

Coping Theory

• The cognitive appraisal view of emotions (Lazarus and Folkman 1984)

• 4 categories, problem-solving, avoidance, blame and social support (other people) (Vitaliano et al 1985)

• Social support is potentially an important factor in influencing donor emotions as it can provide a buffer against the effects of stress (Cohen and Wills 1985)

• Emotionsstresscoping response behaviour

Gap and Research Question

• Little evidence in service research on how other people influence customers in a people-processing service where aspects of the body are the basis of exchange

• RQ1: How do other people influence the emotional experience of donors?

• RQ2: How do donor emotions influence the use of other people as a resource?

Method

Novice Donors

Experienced donors

Lapsed donors

Brisbane  n=16 n=20 n=12Melbourne n=3 n=13 n=13

Sample:• n = 87• 18-65 year olds• 9 x focus groups of 4-5 each, for each donor category,

in Melbourne and Brisbane

Novice = donated onceExperienced = donated two or more timesLapsed = not donated in past two yearsNB: Experience categories were developed based on Masser et al’s 2009 proposition that the drivers of behaviour would be different based on experience levels

Data collection procedure and Analysis

Pre-donation, donation, post-donation stages – stimulus materials

website, sms, poster in pre-donation phase

Photos of donor van and donor centre including staff and donors in donation phase

Photos of sandwich board saying thank you when leave centre

Critical Incident Technique

Best and worst donor experiences

Day Reconstruction Method (DRM; Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz, & Stone; 2004)

Participants play back in their mind (like a movie) the activities and emotional experiences of a day in the past.

The DRM has a close correspondence with established results from experience sampling with the advantage of lower respondent burden. 

Analysis Combined technique of inductive and deductive thematic analysis (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) of transcripts and observer notes Multiple coders

Iterative and reflexive refinement of codes

Results

• RQ1: How do other people influence the emotional experience of donors?

• RQ2: How do donor emotions influence the use of other people as a resource?

• There were four themes that arose from the data indicating how other people influence donor behavior1. social support2. social norms3. personal connection 4. recognition/reinforcement

Type of Social Support

Source of Support

Emotional Tangible   Informational Companionship

Personal

Professional

Types and Sources of Social Support

empathy encouragement

Financial assistance, transport

Advice, tips, guidance

Physical or virtual

presence of others

Wills 1991

Type of Social Support

Source of Support

Emotional Tangible   Informational Companionship

Personal

Professional

Types and Sources of Social Support

Blood service staff

Peer, family

Type of Social Support

Source of Support

Emotional Tangible   Informational Companionship

Personal

Professional

Types and Sources of Social Support

Provided by family,

friends or workmates“We all walked down to

Burke Street...me and my colleagues walked down

to the donation.....you felt like you belonged to

something”.

Provided by family, friends or workmates“Work organized [the

donation]… They actually pay for a taxi to pick us up

and drop us off”

Donation tends to private not public. Don’t talk about it “None of my

friends really talked about [donating]. “

High source credibility of Blood Service.

Quality of the food was important support ‘…, I

thought it was good because you got to eat

cookies and stuff and you get little freebies at the

end’

Website primary source. Used to make

appointments and eligibility criteria.

“All the information is there...everything you

know like...it’s good that you know the place where

you can go”

How does social support influence the emotional experience of donors?

Emotional Experience

•More prevalent in novices•Positive: low level happiness•Negative: Frustration at absence of info, contempt at info spam, guilt

Informational

Support

•Younger donors and friendship (happy and pride)•Novices – to overcome anxiety and fear

Companionship Support

Emotional Support

•More prevalent in novices•Heightened sense of fear and anxiety•Mysterious process•Rely on professional support for reassurance•Source credibility engenders trust and relief

Tangible Support

•Limited mentions•Joy – food•Reduction of negative emotions

How do social norms influence the emotional experience of donors?

Emotional Experience

Injunctive norms (what

people think or feel is right)

•Most people believe donating blood is the right thing to do•Happy•Pride•Want to avoid guilt•Sometimes the Marketing messages can generate guilt anger• want to but cant donate= sadness, regret

•Donation behaviour is rare 1 in 30•Des. Norm = most people don’t donate•Private behavior so friends/family unaware•Descriptive norms less of a motivator for donation

Descriptive norms

(what people actually do)

Norm activation

theory

Schwartz 1977

How does personal connection influence the emotional experience of donors?

Emotional Experience

•People you know• Children, parents•More women

Pro-social

Values

Pay it Forward

Pro-self Values

Pay it Back

Social Value

Orientation (Van

Lange et al 1997“I did because my father actually needed it. He was passing away

so he was after [blood]. I actually ended up fainting sort of in the middle so I couldn’t finish. And after...I think a year after that

I...actually I felt ashamed”

‘...you know going down [to the donor centre] I’d feel a little bit

pleased; a little bit scared; a little bit irritated. I’d feel all these

emotions even a little sad because you’d know that you’re not giving

blood for it not to go to help somebody and you’d think of

whether it be your grandparent

or child.

How does recognition/reinforcement influence the emotional experience of donors?

Emotional Experience

•Recognition is communication of respect for an action and reinforces behaviour.•Other people confirm your identity as a donor

Fisher and

Ackerman 1998

Private Recognition

•Older donors•Altruism•Donation is a private act•Didn’t want to be seen as bragging

“I don’t look for kudos when I give blood. I just

go in I give blood and you just walk out and you think thank Christ it’s not me that needs it. That’s the way I

look at it. It’s a question of honour (pride)”

Public Recognition

•Younger donors•Egoism•Physical and virtual reinforcement•Brownie points and social credits•Didn’t want to be seen as bragging

“I think people do want the recognition...certainly

in the main they want some sort of....I think it adds to the value of the

experience”

Summary

Social Support

Social Norms

Personal Connection

Recognition/Reinforcement

Emotional Experience

GuiltSadness

FrustrationAnxietyRegret

JoyPride

Happiness

Marketing Strategies• Normalise donating

blood• Speak out• Facillitate group

bookings• Link to Cancer

Awareness • Social media

recognition

Questions?