Organ donation intention: The influence of attitude, altruism and spiritual belief in Malaysia

Organ shortage is widely discussed in many countries despite the growing acceptance of organ transplantation procedure worldwide. In Malaysia itself, only 420, 601 pledgers which only represent 1.3 percent of the total population of Malaysia. This is not sufficient to meet the demand from patients in the organ waiting list. Literature reported that the level of awareness in Malaysia is still low with respects to organ donation. Malaysia as a multi-cultural nation, organ donation becomes very complex due to personal belief, emotions, rituals and practices. Religious views are thought to be one of the major barriers to organ transplantation. Though, no major religion strictly prohibits it, although there are differences in opinion within some religions. Therefore, the primary focus of this study is to identify the factors that influence the society towards organ donation intention. A quantitative approach was used to explore the relationship among the variables. A survey was conducted among 200 respondents using validated questionnaire. The data was analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. The result revealed that spiritual belief and altruism significantly influenced intention regarding organ donations. The outcome of this study aims to inform future health campaigns as there will be a better insight on the role that these elements play in the population's decision to be an organ donor. It is suggested that future studies should look into the possibility of positioning education level as moderator to affect the relationship between the factors that influence the society to pledge for organ donation and organ donation intention. Future studies should also look into the possibility investigating the effect of gender, age and religion on the relationship between factors that influence society to donate dimensions and organ donation intention dimensions.