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Will one size fit all? Incentives designed to nurture prosocial behaviour

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  • Barile, Lory
  • Cullis, John
  • Jones, Philip

Abstract

Gneezy et al. (2011) review a literature that assesses the relevance of the form (monetary or non-monetary) of incentives employed to nurture prosocial behaviour. Here the objective is to assess the relevance of characteristics employed to describe individuals when comparing the efficacy of incentives designed to nurture prosocial behaviour. The impact of different incentives depends on the form they take and on the way they are received. This paper compares the impact of different incentives designed to increase pro-environmental behaviour (by increasing individuals’ willingness to recycle household waste). Some individuals are more responsive to a nudge (that increases individuals’ perceptions of the intrinsic value of action) than to a threat (that they will be punished if they refuse to comply). The relative efficacy of these incentives depends on the extent to which individuals are motivated by ‘environmental morale’. When designing policy to increase prosocial behaviour, ‘one size will not fit all’.

Suggested Citation

  • Barile, Lory & Cullis, John & Jones, Philip, 2015. "Will one size fit all? Incentives designed to nurture prosocial behaviour," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 9-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:57:y:2015:i:c:p:9-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2015.04.004
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    2. Angathevar Baskaran & V. G. R. Chandran & Divyaasiny Rajaghantham, 2023. "Exploring SME environmental behaviour and practice: The case of Malaysia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(5), September.
    3. Fenzl, Thomas & Brudermann, Thomas, 2021. "Eye cues increase cooperation in the dictator game under physical attendance of a recipient, but not for all," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nudging; Environmental morale; Crowding-in; Crowding-out; Recycling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H39 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Other

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