Pro-social behaviour. Funded by ESRC.
There is a large literature arguing that a distinctive feature of non-profit organisations is that the people who work in such organisations are motivated and may put in extra effort as a result. The idea of public service motivation is supported by what people in different sectors say about their motivation for working. This study provides evidence that it also matters for what people actually do in their employment. We show that individuals in the non-profit sector are significantly more likely to do unpaid overtime than those in the for-profit sector. We also show that this difference does not arise as a result of people changing their behaviour when they switch sector, instead the evidence is consistent with different types of people selecting into different sectors.
08/197 - How Important is Pro-social Behaviour in the Delivery of Public Services? (pdf, 341.8kB) Paul Gregg, Paul Grout, Anita Ratcliffe, Sarah Smith and Frank Windmeijer (Abstract)