In-group identification and motivation crowding

Abstract

Group identity has been shown to be a powerful force. The crowding-out of intrinsic motivation is also a well-documented phenomenon in psychology and, increasingly, in economics. We conduct a field experiment (in which people do not know that they are in an experiment) to test for the effect of group identity on the crowding out of intrinsic motivation. We offer reimbursement for entry fees to people who bring consoles to video-game tournaments, varying the size of the entry fee. We find that contributions don't depend on the incentive strength. Results show no crowding out (in fact, the contribution rate is lower without any reimbursement incentive). In addition, the subgroup of individuals who identify strongly with the community are 27% more likely to contribute to the public good than the subgroup of individuals who don't identify strongly with the community.