ALIA and the logic of collective action

Abstract

This article reports some of the findings of a test of Mancur Olson's theory of collective action. The empirical basis for this test is the case of a voluntary professional Association: the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). The study addressed two questions. Do individuals join voluntary professional associations in order to underwrite the provision of collective goods to obtain the selective incentives? Do non-members employ a strategy of free riding? The research design called for two groups to be surveyed. The first, and larger, group, consisted of librarians who were current members of ALIA. The second, comparison group, consisted of librarians who had discontinued their membership of ALIA. The major finding of this research is that ALIA members joined the Association to obtain selective incentives rather than to underwrite the provision of collective goods. In the case of non-members selective incentives were not valued sufficiently to influence this group to retain their membership.