Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36127 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4746
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Economists have traditionally assumed that individual behavior is motivated exclusively by extrinsic incentives. Social psychologists, in contrast, stress that intrinsic motivations are also important. In recent work, economic theorists have started to build psychological factors, like intrinsic motivations, into their models. Besley and Ghatak (2005) propose that individuals are differently motivated in that they have different missions, and their self-selection into sectors or organizations with matching missions enhances organizational efficiency. We test Besley and Ghatak's model using data from a unique cohort study. We generate two proxies for intrinsic motivations: a survey-based measure of the health professionals' philanthropic motivations and an experimental measure of their pro-social motivations. We find that both proxies predict health professionals' decision to work in the non-profit sector. We also find that philanthropic health workers employed in the non-profit sector earn lower wages than their colleagues.
Subjects: 
Sector choice
intrinsic motivation
non-profit
JEL: 
C93
I11
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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