Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social motives versus monetary incentives
Laboratory experiments have become a wide-spread tool in economic research. Yet, there is still doubt about how well the results from lab experiments generalize to other settings. In this paper, we investigate the self-selection process of potential subjects into the subject pool. We alter the recru...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29777/ |
| _version_ | 1848793850871545856 |
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| author | Abeler, Johannes Nosenzo, Daniele |
| author_facet | Abeler, Johannes Nosenzo, Daniele |
| author_sort | Abeler, Johannes |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Laboratory experiments have become a wide-spread tool in economic research. Yet, there is still doubt about how well the results from lab experiments generalize to other settings. In this paper, we investigate the self-selection process of potential subjects into the subject pool. We alter the recruitment email sent to first year students, either mentioning the monetary reward associated with participation in experiments; or appealing to the importance of helping research; or both. We find that the sign-up rate drops by two-thirds if we do not mention monetary rewards. Appealing to subjects’ willingness to help research has no effect on sign-up. We then invite the so-recruited subjects to the laboratory to measure their pro-social and approval motivations using incentivized experiments. We do not find any differences between the groups, suggesting that neither adding an appeal to help research, nor mentioning monetary incentives affects the level of social preferences and approval seeking of experimental subjects. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:06:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-29777 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:06:51Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Springer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-297772020-05-04T20:14:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29777/ Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social motives versus monetary incentives Abeler, Johannes Nosenzo, Daniele Laboratory experiments have become a wide-spread tool in economic research. Yet, there is still doubt about how well the results from lab experiments generalize to other settings. In this paper, we investigate the self-selection process of potential subjects into the subject pool. We alter the recruitment email sent to first year students, either mentioning the monetary reward associated with participation in experiments; or appealing to the importance of helping research; or both. We find that the sign-up rate drops by two-thirds if we do not mention monetary rewards. Appealing to subjects’ willingness to help research has no effect on sign-up. We then invite the so-recruited subjects to the laboratory to measure their pro-social and approval motivations using incentivized experiments. We do not find any differences between the groups, suggesting that neither adding an appeal to help research, nor mentioning monetary incentives affects the level of social preferences and approval seeking of experimental subjects. Springer 2014-06 Article PeerReviewed Abeler, Johannes and Nosenzo, Daniele (2014) Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social motives versus monetary incentives. Experimental Economics, 18 (2). pp. 195-214. ISSN 1386-4157 Methodology Selection bias Laboratory experiment Field experiment Other-regarding behavior Social preferences Social approval Experimenter demand http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10683-014-9397-9 doi:10.1007/s10683-014-9397-9 doi:10.1007/s10683-014-9397-9 |
| spellingShingle | Methodology Selection bias Laboratory experiment Field experiment Other-regarding behavior Social preferences Social approval Experimenter demand Abeler, Johannes Nosenzo, Daniele Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social motives versus monetary incentives |
| title | Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| title_full | Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| title_fullStr | Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| title_short | Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| title_sort | self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social
motives versus monetary incentives |
| topic | Methodology Selection bias Laboratory experiment Field experiment Other-regarding behavior Social preferences Social approval Experimenter demand |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29777/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29777/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29777/ |