Professor receives international award

In February 2023, assistant professor of marketing Nicole Robitaille was recognized by the Financial Times with a Responsible Business Education Award. The award was given for her work on increasing organ donor registrations.

Business schools around the world were invited to submit entries showcasing innovative approaches to tackling challenges of environmental and societal significance. Awards were presented for best student-led projects, best business school teaching cases or pedagogical resources, and best business school academic research.

Robitaille was honoured in the school academic research category for her work with colleagues focused on increasing organ donor registrations with behavioural interventions.

There are more than 4,000 people awaiting organ transplants in Canada and while most people tend to support organ donation, many do not follow up and sign their organ donor cards.

Robitaille and a team of multidisciplinary researchers and policymakers conducted a field experiment on the impact of procedure changes and the inclusion of nudge statements in the organ donor registration process in Ontario.

The study’s best-performing interventions significantly increased registration rates and inspired the provincial government to adopt some of the study’s recommendations.

As a result, organ donor registration grew from 24 per cent of eligible adults when the research was done to 35 per cent now.

“It was incredible to see this study really making a difference,” Robitaille says.