Sinika Studte has been Professor of General Business Administration at the HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration since the beginning of 2022. Yesterday, she gave her inaugural lecture in a festive setting in HSBA's Peter Möhrle Lounge. In her lecture, the marketing expert presented current research results that draw attention to the effects a change from an opt-in to an opt-out system can have with regard to the propensity to donate as well as the volume of donations.
Why Opt-out Defaults Can Reduce the Number of Living Organ Donations
In Germany, the so-called opt-in regulation applies to organ donation, i.e. organs can only be donated from deceased persons if there was consent to this during their lifetime. In other countries, on the other hand, the opt-out rule applies, which can motivate people to behave more prosocially. In this case, organs are only not donated from deceased people if there was an active objection to it during their lifetime.
In her inaugural lecture, Sinika Studte, who dealt with prosocial behaviour, in particular donor motivation and donor relationship management in blood and organ donation, used current research results to vividly explain why waiting lists for organs are still far too long, even in countries where opt-out agreements exist. In particular, she addressed why the switch to an opt-out system can have a negative impact on related cooperative behaviours such as living organ donation. Because, although switching to an opt-out system will definitely increase the number of post-mortem donations, it may at the same time lead to a significant decrease in living donations. The " net effect" of such a system change can therefore be significantly lower than often assumed.
Sinika Studte studied business administration with a focus on marketing and sociology at the University of Hamburg. She then held various management positions in the media industry, including Sales & Marketing Manager at Axel Springer SE and Sales Promotion Manager at Zeitungsgruppe Hamburg GmbH. From 2017 to 2022, she was a doctoral candidate at the Chair of Marketing & Media with Prof. Dr Michel Clement at the University of Hamburg. In her research, Sinika Studte focused in particular on the topic of "Communication and Donor Motivation in the Area of Prosocial Behaviour".
