Why Volunteer? Evidence on the Role of Altruism, Reputation, and Incentives
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Carpenter, Jeffrey
Knowles Myers, Caitlin
Abstract / Description
Volunteering plays a prominent role in the charitable provision of goods and services, yet we know relatively little about why people engage in such prosocial acts. The list of possible motivations is long, but recent research has focused on altruism, reputational concerns, and material incentives. We present an analysis of a unique data set that combines an experimental measure of altruism, surveyed measures of other factors including reputational concerns, and call records from volunteer firefighters that provide an objective measure of the hours volunteered. Controlling for a variety of other explanations, we find that altruism and reputational concerns are positively associated with the decision to volunteer. Moreover, by utilizing variation in the presence and level of small stipends paid to the firefighters, we find that the positive effect of monetary incentives declines with reputational concerns, supporting a prediction that extrinsic incentives can crowd out prosocial behavior.
Keyword(s)
Altruismus Ehrenamt Prestige Feuerwehrmann Altruismus Ehrenamt Prestige Feuerwehrmann volunteer altruism reputation firefighterPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2007
Is part of series
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;3021
Citation
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dp3021.pdfAdobe PDF - 288.25KBMD5: aad7aa467c90a85f1ce6525c88920c21
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Carpenter, Jeffrey
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Knowles Myers, Caitlin
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-11-17T11:04:34Z
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Made available on2008-06-03
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Made available on2015-12-01T10:32:11Z
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Made available on2022-11-17T11:04:34Z
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Date of first publication2007
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Abstract / DescriptionVolunteering plays a prominent role in the charitable provision of goods and services, yet we know relatively little about why people engage in such prosocial acts. The list of possible motivations is long, but recent research has focused on altruism, reputational concerns, and material incentives. We present an analysis of a unique data set that combines an experimental measure of altruism, surveyed measures of other factors including reputational concerns, and call records from volunteer firefighters that provide an objective measure of the hours volunteered. Controlling for a variety of other explanations, we find that altruism and reputational concerns are positively associated with the decision to volunteer. Moreover, by utilizing variation in the presence and level of small stipends paid to the firefighters, we find that the positive effect of monetary incentives declines with reputational concerns, supporting a prediction that extrinsic incentives can crowd out prosocial behavior.en
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Persistent Identifierhttps://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16257
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1100
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.9041
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Language of contenteng
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Is part ofIZA Discussion Paper Series No. 3021
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Is part of seriesForschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;3021
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Keyword(s)Altruismusde
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Keyword(s)Ehrenamtde
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Keyword(s)Prestigede
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Keyword(s)Feuerwehrmannde
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Keyword(s)Altruismusde
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Keyword(s)Ehrenamtde
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Keyword(s)Prestigede
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Keyword(s)Feuerwehrmannde
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Keyword(s)volunteeren
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Keyword(s)altruismen
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Keyword(s)reputationen
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Keyword(s)firefighteren
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleWhy Volunteer? Evidence on the Role of Altruism, Reputation, and Incentivesen
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DRO typereport
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Visible tag(s)PsyDok