COMPLETION REPORTA Comparative Study between Japan and Malaysia : Attitude and Willingness to DonateOrgans
Jo Ann Ho(+2)
Associate Professor
Department of Management and Marketing
Faculty of Economics and Management
Universiti Putra Malaysia
We conducted a study to compare organ donation intention between Japanese and Malaysian students
and the main data collection method were questionnaires. The respondents were university undergraduate
students aged 25 years and below. In Malaysia, we distributed 350 questionnaires to two universities andobtained 306 usable questionnaires. An interview was conducted with the National Resource Transplant
Centre. In Japan, we distributed 300 questionnaires to four universities and another 156 were sent online. We obtained a total of 244 responses but only 234 proved usable for our analysis.
Results of the Study:
RQ1: Does attitude towards posthumous organ donation lead to willingness to donate among
Japanese and Malaysian students?
There was an insignificant relationship between attitude and willingness to donate organs among theJapanese students. However, the result was significant for the Malaysian sample. Our results show thatalthough the Japanese students may have a positive attitude toward organ donation, this positive attitude
will not influence their intentions to donate. However, in Malaysia, the attitude of the students did
significantly influence their intention to donate, indicating a positive attitude would definitely increase
their intention to donate. For the Japanese sample, moral norms (i.e. an individual's perception that organ
donation is the right thing to do) and perceived behavioural control (i.e. an individual’s belief that they
have the ability to control and are able to donate their organs) were significant predictors of theirwillingness to donate organs.
RQ2: Does social norms influence willingness to donate?
Social norms appeared insignificant for both countries. This result was surprising for the Malaysiansociety, as it is considered to be a collectivist society. However, the results appeared consistent for theJapanese sample as studies have shown Japan to be a more individualistic society. Young adults in Japanand Malaysia appeared to be more independent in deciding whether to donate their organs after death,and not pressured by others or society norms to donate their organs.
RQ3: Does willingness to donate lead to willingness to communicate with family?
The association between willingness to donate, willingness to sign a donor card and willingness tocommunicate with the family was significant in both countries. Thus, those who were willing to donate
were also willing to communicate their decisions to their families. This is seen as a positive step and canincrease the chances of organs being actually donated after the donor passes on since communication
with family was found to be an important aspect for successful organ donation after death.
RQ4: What are the current strategies used by the Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOTN) toencourage organ donations among Japanese?
JOTN focuses on increasing the knowledge of the Japanese society towards organ donation. They workwith various parties including doctors and schools to increase the awareness of organ donation.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
4th International On-Line Conference on Recent Advancement in Interdisciplinary Research (ICRAIR)
2020 held from 8-9 May 2020. Presenter: Ho Jo Ann (please refer attached certificate of presentation)
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Asian Journal of Social ScienceAuthors: Jo Ann Ho, Soniya Umair, Umair Waqas and Lin Woon Leong
We also plan to submit another article to a journal which is yet to be identified. This article will bebased on the interviews that we conducted between TRIO, JOTN, National Resource Transplant
Centre, Malaysia and Dr Egawa. This manuscript is in the midst of being written.
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)