Author Abstract
Do monetary incentives encourage volunteering? Or, do they introduce a "greedy" signal and hence crowd out the motivation to volunteer? Since the strength of this greedy signal is normally unobserved, the answer is theoretically unclear, and corresponding empirical evidence is mixed. I overcome this ambiguity by examining individuals for whom the greedy signal strength is likely weak—those with public reputations about their past volunteer behavior. In a laboratory experiment, I show that crowd out in response to public incentives is much less likely among those with public, as opposed to private, reputations.
Paper Information
- Full Working Paper Text
- Working Paper Publication Date: November 2015
- HBS Working Paper Number: 16-063
- Faculty Unit(s): Negotiation, Organizations & Markets