Social media’s effectiveness for activating social declarations and motivating personal discussions to improve organ donation consent rates
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 1 March 2019
Issue publication date: 11 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
While the support for organ donation and registered donors continue to increase, next of kin consent remains a critical issue for the organ donation community. Despite the increased usage of social media campaigns for organ donor registration, there is a lack of understanding of how social media can be used to motivate individuals to socially declare their support for organ donation and encourage them to engage in personal discussions about organ donation with their next of kin. The purpose of this study is to better understand the link between social and personal discussions and organ donation consent rates.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses structural equation modeling to examine the precursors to activating organ donor registration social media advocacy that leads to increased support for organ donation and motivates personal discussions about organ donation.
Findings
The results provide the organ donation and transplant community insight on the value of using social media to increase social advocacy, support for donation and social declarations and personal discussions on organ donation to improve next of kin’s consent rates.
Practical implications
Social causes similar to organ donation increasingly turn to social media for grassroots marketing efforts to engage others in the cause and motivate action.
Originality/value
The authors proposed an omni-channel IMC Framework and a research agenda for advancing the field. As this is a new area of inquiry, the authors argue for the development of other comprehensive frameworks, both for general omni-channel IMC conceptualizations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, for project funding. Funding for the project was made by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. D’Alessandro was the principle investigator on the grant, Dr. Peltier was principle research evaluator, and Dr. Dahl managed daily aspects of the grant. The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to disclose as described by the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.
Citation
Dahl, A.J., Barber, K. and Peltier, J. (2019), "Social media’s effectiveness for activating social declarations and motivating personal discussions to improve organ donation consent rates", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-11-2018-0153
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited