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Does Pay Motivate Volunteers?

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Author Info
Bruno S. Frey
Lorenz Goette

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Abstract

Volunteer work is an increasingly large, yet ill-understood sector of the economy. We show that monetary rewards undermine the intrinsic motivation of volunteers. A unique data set from Switzerland allows us to assess the effects of financial rewards on the effort put into volunteer work. There is a fairly standard pattern regarding the volunteers reaction e.g. to more labor market work hours. But we obtain the puzzling result that, when rewarded, volunteers work less. These findings are in line with a large literature in social psychology emphasizing that external rewards can undermine the intrinsic motivation for an activity. We show the implications for public policy towards volunteering.

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Paper provided by Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW in its series IEW - Working Papers with number iewwp007.

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Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:007

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Related research
Keywords: Volunteer Work Crowding-Out Intrinsic Motivation Price Incentives.

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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  1. Frey, Bruno S, 1992. "Tertium Datur: Pricing, Regulating and Intrinsic Motivation," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(2), pages 161-84.
  2. Brown, Eleanor & Lankford, Hamilton, 1992. "Gifts of money and gifts of time estimating the effects of tax prices and available time," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 321-341, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Frey, Bruno S, 1997. "A Constitution for Knaves Crowds Out Civic Virtues," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1043-53, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Freeman, Richard B, 1997. "Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages S140-66, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gaechter, . "Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocitys," IEW - Working Papers iewwp040, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Thorsten Hens, . "An Extension of Mantel (1976) to Incomplete Markets," IEW - Working Papers iewwp071, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  3. Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé & Björn Schmalfuss, . "Random Fixed Points in a Stochastic Solow Growth Model," IEW - Working Papers iewwp065, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Simon Gächter & Armin Falk, . "Work motivation, institutions, and performance," IEW - Working Papers iewwp062, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  5. Bruno S. Frey, . "Why Economists Disregard Economic Methodology," IEW - Working Papers iewwp058, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Bruno S. Frey, . "Flexible Citizenship for a Global Society," IEW - Working Papers iewwp094, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Igor V. Evstigneev & Thorsten Hens & Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé, . "Market Selection of Financial Trading Strategies: Global Stability," IEW - Working Papers iewwp083, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  8. Bruno S. Frey und Matthias Benz, . "Ökonomie und Psychologie: eine Übersicht," IEW - Working Papers iewwp092, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  9. Reto Schleiniger, . "Consumption Taxes and International Competitiveness in a Keynesian World," IEW - Working Papers iewwp042, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  10. Thorsten Hens & Klaus Schenk-Hoppé, . "Evolution of Portfolio Rules in Incomplete Markets," IEW - Working Papers iewwp074, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  11. Bruno S. Frey & Reto Jegen, . "Motivation Crowding Theory: A Survey Of Empirical Evidence, Revised Version," IEW - Working Papers iewwp049, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  12. Ernst Fehr & Alexander Klein & Klaus M. Schmidt, . "Fairness, Incentives and Contractual Incompleteness," IEW - Working Papers iewwp072, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Uri Gneezy, 2003. "The W effect of incentives," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000315, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Dan Ariely & Anat Bracha & Stephan Meier, 2007. "Doing Good or Doing Well? Image Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially," IZA Discussion Papers 2968, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  15. Jens-Ulrich Peter & Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé, . "Business Cycle Phenomena in Overlapping Generations Economies with Stochastic Production," IEW - Working Papers iewwp030, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  16. Josef Zweimueller & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, . "Firm-specific Training: Consequences for Job Mobility," IEW - Working Papers iewwp037, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Rabah Amir & Igor V. Evstigneev & Thorsten Hens & Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé, . "Market Selection and Survival of Investment Strategies," IEW - Working Papers iewwp091, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, . "Global CO2-Trade and Local Externalities," IEW - Working Papers iewwp077, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  19. Reto Schleiniger, . "Money Illusion and the Double Dividend in the Short Run," IEW - Working Papers iewwp093, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  20. Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé, . "Is There a Golden Rule for the Stochastic Solow Growth Model ?," IEW - Working Papers iewwp033, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  21. Reto Schleiniger, . "Energy Tax Reform with Exemptions for the Energy-Intensiv Export Sector," IEW - Working Papers iewwp073, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  22. Anke Gerber, . "Direct versus Intermediated Finance: an Old Question and a New Answer," IEW - Working Papers iewwp087, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  23. Yvon H. Pho, 2004. "Volunteer Output and the National Accounts: An Empirical Analysis," BEA Working Papers 0014, Bureau of Economic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  24. Bruno S. Frey, . "The Rise and Fall of Festivals: Reflections on the Salzburg Festival," IEW - Working Papers iewwp048, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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