Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
Monetary incentives are often used to motivate individuals' pro-social behavior. However, incentives are known to result in the crowding-out effect, which dampens individuals' intrinsic motivation and leads to lower contribution quality. In this paper, we conduct randomized experiments to investigate ways to overcome the crowding-out effect of monetary incentives. Specifically, we identify goal-setting and challenge-seeking as potential intervention strategies based on the psychology literature. Our results suggest that monetary incentives, when combined with appropriate intervention strategies, can motivate users to increase contribution quantity without sacrificing quality. Additional experimental results suggest that the moderating effect of these intervention strategies is heterogeneous, with low-altruistic individuals benefiting the most from the intervention. Our research contributes to the study of incentive provision and pro-social behaviors and have profound theoretical and practical implications.
Recommended Citation
Qiao, Dandan; Lee, Shun-Yang; Whinston, Andrew; and Wei, Qiang, "Overcoming the Crowding-Out Effect of Monetary Incentive on Pro-Social Behavior" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 33.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/HumanBehavior/Presentations/33
Overcoming the Crowding-Out Effect of Monetary Incentive on Pro-Social Behavior
Monetary incentives are often used to motivate individuals' pro-social behavior. However, incentives are known to result in the crowding-out effect, which dampens individuals' intrinsic motivation and leads to lower contribution quality. In this paper, we conduct randomized experiments to investigate ways to overcome the crowding-out effect of monetary incentives. Specifically, we identify goal-setting and challenge-seeking as potential intervention strategies based on the psychology literature. Our results suggest that monetary incentives, when combined with appropriate intervention strategies, can motivate users to increase contribution quantity without sacrificing quality. Additional experimental results suggest that the moderating effect of these intervention strategies is heterogeneous, with low-altruistic individuals benefiting the most from the intervention. Our research contributes to the study of incentive provision and pro-social behaviors and have profound theoretical and practical implications.