Motivation crowding in environmental protection: Evidence from an artefactual field experiment

This paper examines how motivation, crowding and social image affect environmental conservation decisions. An artefactual field experiment conducted in Bolivia is used to reproduce the trade-off between individual and social benefits in natural resource use and test the effect of non-monetary and non-regulatory incentives on pro-social behavior for environmental conservation. The results show the presence of a social norm prescribing positive contribution towards environmental protection, and that external incentives have heterogeneous effects on pro-social behavior depending on how they influence reputation and self-image. The experimental results differ from those of analogous experiments conducted in the laboratory, and are instead consistent with those from field experiments on common-pool resource management. This fact suggests caution in generalizing conclusions, reached in the laboratory, to different settings and populations.

► Do motivation crowding and social image affect environmental conservation choices? ► I test the effect of non-monetary and non-regulatory incentives for reforestation. ► Their effect is heterogeneous in their influence on reputation and self-image. ► They crowd-in (out) giving by individualistic (civically-engaged) subjects. ► They give more if observed by people with whom they interact in the public sphere.