Why Volunteer? Evidence on the Role of Altruism, Image, and Incentives

Jeffrey Carpenter and Caitlin Myers

Middlebury College Working Paper Series from Middlebury College, Department of Economics

Abstract: We examine motivations for prosocial behavior using new data on volunteer firefighters that contain a dictator-game based measure of altruism, surveyed measures of other behavioral factors, and call records that provide an objective measure of time spent volunteering. Controlling for a variety of other explanations, we find that the decision to volunteer is positively correlated with altruism as well as with concern for social reputation or image.” 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 image concerns, supporting a prediction that extrinsic incentives can crowd out image motivation for prosocial behavior.

Keywords: volunteer; altruism; reputation; extrinsic motivation; firefighter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D12 D64 D82 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2010-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (164)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Why volunteer? Evidence on the role of altruism, image, and incentives (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1023

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