The culture of the body: attitudes toward organ donation in China and the US

Using the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the Social Norms Approach (Berkowitz, 1997), this exploratory study examined effects of attitudes and norms on intent to become an organ donor for respondents in China and the United States. Norms were measured using four factors -subjective norm, societal descriptive norm, personal injunctive norm, and benevolent indebtedness to family. US respondents scored significantly higher than Chinese on measures of attitude, subjective norm, descriptive norm, injunctive norm, and intent to become a donor, whereas Chinese showed significantly greater agreement with indebtedness. Respondents in both countries had deficient knowledge about organ donation. Finally, results were analyzed through the lens of path modeling which plotted causal relationships predicting intent to become a donor.