Prosocial incentive versus financial incentive in biodiversity conservation: A field experiment

Last registered on October 22, 2022

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Prosocial incentive versus financial incentive in biodiversity conservation: A field experiment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0010210

Initial registration date

October 12, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 17, 2022, 5:29 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

October 22, 2022, 8:20 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

Japan

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Shusaku Sasaki

Affiliation

Osaka University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Takahiro Kubo

PI Affiliation

National Institute for Environmental Studies

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2022-09-15

End date

2025-03-31

Keywords

Agriculture, Behavior, Environment & Energy, Other

Additional Keywords

Conservation actions, Species information, Invasive species, Rare species, Charitable giving, Financial reward, Incentive, Information provision, Public good, Smartphone app, Posting, Behavioral economics, Experimental economics, Japan

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Citizens exhibit interests for a variety of social contribution activities, including biodiversity conservation ones. However, it is difficult for one citizen to participate in multiple activities with the same effort. There are both activities in which they want to directly participate and activities in which they would be satisfied to be indirectly involved.

In this study, we introduce a scheme whereby when people contribute to the activity in which they want to directly participate, another positive action also occurs in the social contribution activity in which they want to be indirectly involved. We experimentally test how much the scheme facilitates the former behavior.

Specifically, we introduce a matching scheme whereby people post species information on a smartphone app related to biodiversity conservation, and monetary donations are made to related activities (e.g., saving endangered species, etc.). We conduct a field experiment with the app users, measure the scheme’s effect on their posting behavior during implementation, and evaluate the lasting impact after the scheme is deactivated. To examine the significance of exposures to species under the pandemic, we also measure spillover effects on physical activities and mental health.

Furthermore, we measure the behavior change effect of another scheme that gives financial rewards for posting species information and investigate which charitable matching or reward matching has a greater behavior change effect. We also examine how the relative relationship depends on the app users’ attributes and perceptions.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Sasaki, Shusaku and Takahiro Kubo. 2022. "Prosocial incentive versus financial incentive in biodiversity conservation: A field experiment." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10210-2.1

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We randomly assign 900 participants to either of the control group, prosocial treatment group, or financial treatment group (300 participants x 3 groups). We set a two-week treatment period, during which those assigned to the prosocial treatment group, or financial treatment group receive the following interventions, respectively:

Prosocial treatment: Based on the number of species information posted by each user, the experimenter donates to activities related to biodiversity conservation.
Financial treatment: Based on the number of species information posted by each user, the experimenter gives them financial rewards that can be used for their online shopping.

Intervention Start Date

2022-10-17

Intervention End Date

2022-10-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

1) Number of species information posted on weekdays
2) Number of species information posted on weekends or holidays

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

The primary outcomes are automatically recorded by the app.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

1) Number of species photos posted on weekdays
2) Number of species photos posted on weekends or holidays
3) Physical activities (Weekday steps and weekend steps)
4) Mental health (k6)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Among the secondary outcomes, the variables 1) and 2) are are automatically recorded by the app. Here, the primary outcomes (number of posted species information) are not equal to the two secondary outcomes (number of posted species photos), which count even if a user posts multiple photo of the same organism.

The variables 3) and 4) are collected in a self-report format in surveys.

Experimental Design

In this study, we collaborate with a company that provides a smartphone app for citizens to collect, post, and record species information, and conduct a field experiment with its users.

We randomly assign 900 participants to either of the control group, prosocial treatment group, or financial treatment group (300 participants x 3 groups). We set a two-week treatment period, during which those assigned to the prosocial treatment group, or financial treatment group receive the following interventions, respectively:

Prosocial treatment: Based on the number of species information posted by each user, the experimenter donates to activities related to biodiversity conservation.
Financial treatment: Based on the number of species information posted by each user, the experimenter gives them financial rewards that can be used for their online shopping.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Stratified randomization. The strata are based on 1) number of species information posted by users during the baseline period, and 2) their prosocial or selfish motivations for participation.

Randomization Unit

Individuals

Was the treatment clustered?