Building Role Identity and 'Flexibility' in Early-Career Blood Donors through Possible Selves

With the increasing demand for blood products, blood agencies need to retain donors and increase their flexibility, i.e. their willingness to donate the blood product in demand. Theoretically this can be achieved by building a sense of self-identification with the role of a regular, flexible donor; that is inducing a role identity. One hundred early-career donors received a blood donation brochure that focused on whole blood donation or donating flexibly, and included no additional manipulation, a role identity manipulation, or role identity manipulation combined with other retention strategies. Participants rated their role identity and their intentions to donate i) in the next 90 days, ii) regularly and iii) flexibly. Consistent with predictions, those who received the role identity manipulation had stronger intentions to donate in the next 90 days than those who received no additional manipulation. However this effect does not appear to be due to role identity. Further, no significant effects of donor flexibility emerged. Overall, the findings suggest that while the role identity manipulation may bolster the intentions of early-career donors to donate in the immediate future, the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear