Interaction effects of religiosity level on the relationship between religion and willingness to donate organs

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the interaction effect of religiosity level on the relationship between religion and willingness to donate organs. Prior studies have suggested that a high level of religiosity indicates a high level of willingness to donate organs. However, these previous works ignore the interaction effect of the level of religiosity and the doctrinal characteristics of each religion regarding one’s own body preservation. Organ donation is an act of transplanting part of one’s own body after death to another person and is influenced by the viewpoint of the post-mortem world and the attitude toward the preservation of the body. Therefore, this study analyzes the effects of religious characteristics and belief levels on the relationship between religion and organ donation. Results show that Christianity, such as Catholicism and Protestantism, positively affects the willingness to donate organs as compared with Buddhism. Religiosity level also exerts an interaction effect that strengthens the relationship between Christianity and willingness to donate organs.