Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation to protect the environment: correlational and causal evidence

Pugno, Maurizio and Sarracino, Francesco (2021): Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation to protect the environment: correlational and causal evidence.

Abstract

Understanding why many people spontaneously perform pro-environmental behaviours, rather than requiring some incentive, is an active area of research. To solve the puzzle, many studies address people's intrinsic motivation for this kind of behaviour. However, the term "intrinsic" remains unclear, and thus also the solution of the puzzle. We contribute to this research by attaching intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to the pursuit of central goals in people's lives. We take the prominent example of the motivations in looking for a job, and relate these motivations to pro-environmental attitudes and engagements. Using an international sample, we find that intrinsic motivation relates positively and extrinsic motivation relates negatively to a variety of subjective pro-environmental outcomes. This result holds for different sub-samples and for various econometric specifications and methodologies. In particular, two-stage least squares estimation with proper instruments provides evidence of a causal relationship between motivations and pro-environmental outcomes.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: intrinsic motivation; extrinsic motivation; pro-environmental behaviours; multilevel model; instrumental variables; World Values Survey; European Values Study
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D01 - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics

References

Andreoni, J. (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm-glow giving. The economic journal, 100(401):464–477.

Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E., and Pugno, M. (2013). Did the decline in social connections depress Americans’ happiness? Social Indicators Research, 110(3):1033–1059.

Bartolini, S. and Sarracino, F. (2014). Happy for how long? How social capital and economic growth relate to happiness over time. Ecological Economics, 108:242–256.

Binder, M. and Blankenberg, A.-K. (2017). Green lifestyles and subjective well-being: More about self-image than actual behavior? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 137:304–323.

Blankenberg, A.-K. and Alhusen, H. (2018). On the determinants of proenvironmental behavior - a guide for further investigations. Technical report, CEGE Discussion Paper Number 350.

Bolderdijk, J. W. and Steg, L. (2015). Promoting sustainable consumption: The risks of using financial incentives. In Reisch, L. and Thøgerse, J., editors, Handbook of research on sustainable consumption, pages 328–342. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham.

Brown, K. W. and Kasser, T. (2005). Are psychological and ecological wellbeing compatible? The role of values, mindfulness, and lifestyle. Social indicators research, 74(2):349–368.

Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M. (2002). Overview of self-determination theory: An organismic dialectical perspective. In Deci, E. and Ryan, R., editors, Handbook of self-determination research, pages 5–32. University Rochester Press.

Farrow, K., Grolleau, G., and Ibanez, L. (2017). Social norms and proenvironmental behavior: A review of the evidence. Ecological Economics, 140:1–13.

Feenstra, R. C., Inklaar, R., and Timmer, M. P. (2015). The next generation of the Penn World Table. American Economic Review, 105(10):3150–3182.

Fischbacher, U., G¨achter, S., and Fehr, E. (2001). Are people conditionally cooperative? Evidence from a public goods experiment. Economics letters, 71(3):397–404.

Gatersleben, B., Murtagh, N., and Abrahamse, W. (2014). Values, identity and pro-environmental behaviour. Contemporary Social Science, 9(4):374–392.

Hurst, M., Dittmar, H., Bond, R., and Kasser, T. (2013). The relationship between materialistic values and environmental attitudes and behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36:257–269.

Kasser, T. (2017). Living both well and sustainably: a review of the literature, with some reflections on future research, interventions and policy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 375(2095):20160369.

Kirakozian, A. (2016). One without the other? Behavioural and incentive policies for household waste management. Journal of Economic Surveys, 30(3):526–551.

Konow, J. and Earley, J. (2008). The hedonistic paradox: is homo economicus happier? Journal of public Economics, 92(1-2):1–33.

Lindenberg, S. (2001). Intrinsic motivation in a new light. Kyklos, 54(2-3):317–342.

Meier, S. and Stutzer, A. (2008). Is volunteering rewarding in itself? Economica, 75(1):39–59.

Ostrom, E. (2000). Collective action and the evolution of social norms. Journal of economic perspectives, 14(3):137–158.

Ryan, R. M., Huta, V., and Deci, E. L. (2008). Living well: A selfdetermination theory perspective on eudaimonia. Journal of happiness studies, 9(1):139–170.

Ryff, C. D. and Singer, B. H. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of happiness studies, 9(1):13–39.

Salinas-Jiménez, M. d. M., Artés, J., and Salinas-Jiménez, J. (2010). Income, motivation, and satisfaction with life: An empirical analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(6):779–793.

Sturm, B. and Weimann, J. (2006). Experiments in environmental economics and some close relatives. Journal of Economic Surveys, 20(3):419–457.

Tabernero, C. and Hernandez, B. (2011). Self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation guiding environmental behavior. Environment and Behavior, 43(5):658–675.

Tam, K.-P. and Chan, H.-W. (2018). Generalized trust narrows the gap between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior: Multilevel evidence. Global Environmental Change, 48:182–194.

Tripathi, A. and Singh, M. P. (2016). Determinants of sustainable/green consumption: a review. International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 19(3-4):316–358.

Van der Werff, E., Steg, L., and Keizer, K. (2013). It is a moral issue: The relationship between environmental self-identity, obligation-based intrinsic motivation and pro-environmental behaviour. Global environmental change, 23(5):1258–1265.

Welsch, H. and Kuhling, J. (2011). Are pro-environmental consumption choices utility-maximizing? Evidence from subjective well-being data. Ecological Economics, 72:75–87.