Sweat the small stuff: The effect of small incentive changes on participation in service-learning

We examine the effect of small changes in incentives on student participation in an optional service-learning component of an intermediate level economics course using a field experiment. Professors frequently encourage but do not require participation in a particular course component. Yet little rigorous analysis exists on how to best encourage students to participate. We vary the reward for completing service between two randomly assigned sections of a course with a service-learning component. Students in the higher-incentive section are significantly more likely to participate. We highlight the implications for designing courses with optional components such as optional service-learning.