Determinants of online sperm donor success: how women choose

ABSTRACT

Because the worldwide demand for sperm donors is much higher than the actual supply available through fertility clinics, an informal online market has emerged for sperm donation. Very little empirical evidence exists, however, on this newly formed market and even less on the characteristics that lead to donor success. This article therefore explores the determinants of online sperm donors’ selection success, which leads to the production of offspring via informal donation. We find that donor age and income play a significant role in donor success as measured by the number of times selected, even though there is no requirement for ongoing paternal investment. Donors with less extroverted and lively personality traits who are more intellectual, shy and systematic are more successful in realizing offspring via informal donation. These results contribute to both the economic literature on human behaviour and on large-scale decision-making.

KEYWORDS:

• Online sperm donor market
• informal market
• offspring
• donor success
• personality traits

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J13
• D10

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ For example, through sperm donation forums and websites on the Internet.

² VoyForum.com, TadpoleTown.com, BubHub.com, FertilityFriends.co.uk – Infertility and Fertility Support, PSD (privatespermdonor.com), Co-Parent.net, Co-ParentMatch.com, PrideAngel.com and Modamily.com.

³ My annual wage would be in the range of 1 = below $20 000, 2 = $20 000–$50 000, 3 = $50 000–$80 000, 4 = $80 000–$110 000, 5 = $110 000–$150 000, 6 = $150 000–$180 000, 7 = $180 000–$210 000, 8 = $210 000–$240 000, 9 = $240 000–$270 000, 10 = $270 000–$300 000 and 11 = above $300 000.

⁴ All things considered, how would you describe your health (1 = very unhealthy, 7 = very healthy).

⁵ How well do the following words describe you? For each word, select one box to indicate how well that word describes you. There are no right or wrong answers. 1 = Does not describe me at all, 7 = Describes me very well. All the other self-rated attributes have the same scale (systematic, extroverted, lively, shy, fretful).

⁶ My highest level of education achieved at this point in time (1 = below Grade 10, 2 = Grade 10, 3 = Grade 11, 4 = Grade 12, 5 = Technical college (prevocational, trade college, apprenticeship), 6 = undergraduate university study (diploma, bachelor’s), 7 = university (graduate diploma, graduate certificate, master’s), 8 = doctorate/PhD.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council [FT110100463].