Recently, the research group of Professor Li Jianbiao from the School of Economics and the Institute for the Study of Brain-Inspired Economics at Shandong University has made progress in organ donation research. Their latest study, “Dynamic Norms and Organ Donation”, was published online in the esteemed economics journal Economic Inquiry. This study was co-authored by Professor Li Jianbiao, Professor Niu Xiaofei, and Dr. Zang Ruqian from the School of Economics at Shandong University. Dr. Zang Ruqian is the first author, with Professors Li Jianbiao and Niu Xiaofei as corresponding authors.

The authors conducted three experiments involving over 1,600 subjects to examine the effect of dynamic norms on organ donation. They found that dynamic norms (low-prevalence behaviors framed as increasing in popularity over time) significantly boosted organ donor registration. This effect was primarily driven by dynamic trends (behaviors showing an upward trend in prevalence). The impact of dynamic trends on organ donor registration was stronger than that of combined norms (low-descriptive but high-injunctive behaviors). The underlying mechanism for this effect may involve future norm perceptions and moral emotions (elevation). This paper presents a promising strategy for increasing organ donation.

This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province.

The team at the Institute for the Study of Brain-Inspired Economics, led by Professor Li Jianbiao, conducts interdisciplinary research in the fields of neuroeconomics, neurofinance, neuromanagement, and artificial intelligence economics. Their findings have been published in numerous prominent academic journals both domestically and internationally, including PNAS, Management Science, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Experimental Economics, and Economics (Quarterly).