| Summary: | Advances in medical technology have led to a sharp rise in organ transplantation in recent years. Many countries have been facing a discrepancy between the demand and supply in the organ transplantation system, and schemes have been put in place to streamline the entire process to maximise efficiency and equity. Many countries have a default rule (either opt in or opt out) while others use a combination of a default rule and priority rule to encourage organ donation. However, these rules did not mitigate the organ shortage problem. Effective organ allocation priority rules are imperative in incentivising organ donation. Since blood type compatibility is generally of highest precedence for a suitable organ transplant to occur, this study investigates how three potential blood type organ allocation priority rules: Full Allocation Priority Rule, Partial Compatibility AB (PCAB) Allocation Priority Rule and Partial Compatibility O (PCO) Allocation Priority Rule, affect donation rates. A total of 120 undergraduates and graduate students from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, participated in a laboratory experiment and a linear regression data analysis was applied. Overall, the Full Allocation Priority Rule results in the highest donation rate while PCO Allocation Priority Rule results in the lowest donation rate. Such findings are attributed to the heightened free ridership problem in PCAB and PCO Allocation Priority Rules. This study provides insights into effective policy making, in order to increase organ donation rates. Ultimately, this study aims to achieve the end target of reducing the number of patients on the organ transplant waiting list and improving the quality of patients’ lives who are suffering from organ failure.
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