Why without pay? Intrinsic motivation in the unpaid labour supply

Bruna Bruno and Damiano Fiorillo ()

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2012, vol. 41, issue 5, 659-669

Abstract: Economic theory explains the supply of volunteering alternatively as an ordinary consumer good or an investment good. This paper provides a simultaneous approach, considering both objectives, by using the psychological distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, in order to reconcile conflicting results reported in the literature. Following the simultaneity approach, the paper develops a theoretical model of unpaid labour supply within an agent's two-period utility maximization problem, taking into account the role of psychological motivation. The theoretical hypotheses are tested with a sample selection model for Italy, by using the 1997 Multipurpose Households Survey on everyday life issues carried out by the Italian National Statistical Office. A robustness analysis and endogeneity test for intrinsic motivation are also performed. Empirical analysis rejects the hypothesis that only a consumption or investment motive can explain Italian volunteers’ behaviour, supporting the hypothesis that both motives interact in shaping regular unpaid labour supply, with a stronger impact of consumption motives. The relevant variables for frequently supplied unpaid labour are intrinsic motivation, age, household income, family responsibilities and activity sector.

Keywords: Intrinsic motivation; Investment and consumption motives; Volunteering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053535712000832
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Why without pay? Intrinsic motivation in unpaid labour supply (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:5:p:659-669

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.05.020

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) is currently edited by Pablo Brañas Garza

More articles in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().