The Organizational Field of Blood Collection: A Multilevel Analysis of Organizational Determinants of Blood Donation in Europe

Abstract

Maintaining an adequate blood supply for transfusion poses a pressing challenge to society. We argue that this challenge has not been adequately addressed in previous research. Building upon Healy’s seminal work on ‘blood-collection regimes’ and the subsequent shift towards a field-level approach that broadens the analytical focus beyond the dyadic relationship between donors and organizations, we embed the act of blood donation within the organizational field in which blood establishments operate. We assume that varying modes of governance shape the organizational practices of donor recruitment and blood collection. Our analysis is based on Eurobarometer data from 2014 (number of countries = 28; number of individuals = 19,363). The results identify considerable variance in donation rates according to field characteristics in terms of hierarchical centralization and competitiveness. Decentralized systems without competition perform worst in terms of the recruitment of (first-time) blood donors. Competitive systems in which several different bodies share responsibility for the provision of blood to patients yield the highest donation rates.

Did you donate? Talking about donations predicts compliance with solicitations for donations

“…Many forms of prosocial behaviour are highly institutionalised. They are structured and facilitated by organizations that serve as brokers between donors and recipients [ 1 , 2 ]. One of the key tools that organizations use to elicit prosocial behaviour are solicitations for donations [ 3 – 5 ].…”

Institutionalizing Voluntary Blood Donation: Explaining the Cross-National Variance in the Approval of Paid Blood or Plasma Donation in Europe

“…Healy demonstrates that the act of giving blood varies significantly depending on the main blood collection organization in charge, essentially arguing for the institutional production of opportunities for donation and their associated identities and meanings. Since then, more efforts have been undertaken to shift the focus toward more structural explanations of blood donation behavior (e.g., Charbonneau & Smith, 2016; Gorleer et al, 2020), thereby following a tradition of studying the sociological foundations of prosocial values and behavior (Simpson & Willer, 2015).…”

Did you donate? Talking about donations predicts compliance with solicitations for donations.

“…Many forms of prosocial behaviour are highly institutionalised. They are structured and facilitated by organizations that serve as brokers between donors and recipients (Gorleer et al, 2020;Healy, 2004). One of the key tools that organizations use to elicit prosocial behaviour are solicitations for donations (Bekkers, 2005;Merz, Zijlstra, et al, 2017;Yörük, 2008).…”