The motivational effect of detailed job references for volunteers – Evidence from a field experiment on intergenerational cooperation.

The approach aims to compare the performance of volunteers that can either receive a job reference with or without additional information on individual performance. After enrolment the control group (=T0) is motivated by a simple job reference, which contains a list and description of the individual volunteering activities, a description including the objectives of the intergenerational tandem project and a standardized appreciation of the engagement of the volunteers independent of the participant’s individual effort. In contrast, the remaining volunteers can choose between this standard reference of the control group and a detailed reference that additionally displays 0 to 100 "engagement points" as an indicator for their individual engagement. All volunteers have the non-obligatory goal of assisting an older mentee at least once a week in a personal exchange (e.g. video chat or telephone call) with smartphone tasks (e.g. Internet research, solving an online quiz, sending links/photos/videos). For volunteers that choose the detailed job reference, the number of engagement points on their certificate depends on how often they achieve the weekly goal and which performance assessment mechanism (=PAM) is used to allocate engagement points. We use three different types of PAMs based on the literature on human decision making, incentives and commitment devices.

T1 - Bonus: Start at a medium engagement point level. Win a small amount of points for each successful week.
T2 - Repeated Betting: Start at a medium engagement point level. Win a small amount of points for each successful week. Loose the same number of points beginning the second week in which you fail to achieve the goal.

Given these combinations, all subjects are randomly allocated to one of four treatment groups: T0 [Control: Simple Reference, no PAM}, T1 [Bonus: detailed reference, PAM based on weekly bonuses} and T2 [Repeated Betting: detailed reference, PAM based on weekly repeated bet]. After completing the application, the pre-intervention survey and the choice of a type of job reference with subsequent control questions, the young volunteers are matched with an elderly person.
The COVID-19 pandemic makes it impossible for volunteers to meet in person to spend time together and support their partner in using and learning computer, tablet or smartphone applications. Thus, volunteers starting during the corona pandemic solely provide support via phone or video calls.

2020-04-21

2022-12-31

Based on literature on young volunteers career motivation, beneficial labor market outcomes for volunteers and non-pecuniary incentives we expect positive motivational effects of job references that display additional information on the individual performance. Mentors receiving detailed job references should provide a higher quantity of telephone calls/Video chats and messages and also more minutes of support compared to volunteers incentivized with a simple job reference. Additionally, we think this effect is reinforced for detailed job references with repeated betting devices as underlying PMA (T2) and young volunteers who are primarily motivated by career concerns.

We measure these interaction parameters for both the incentive period and the post-incentive period.The latter helps us to capture the continuation of the volunteering activities after the end of the project.

Several measures should capture the preparation effort, like number of downloaded supporting material and self-reported preperation time.

As a consequence of the higher regularity and intensity of the assistance provided by young volunteers with detailed job references, we expect several positive effects on their elderly mentees compared to elderly people with control group volunteers:
•
• Higher decrease in self-reported loneliness
• Higher increase in smartphone use (average minutes per day)
• higher increase in self-reported social integration,
• higher increase in digital competencies,
• higher self-reported decrease in smartphone anxiety
• a higher increase of life-satisfaction

All these measurements are generated by using a pre post comparison.

We draw our participants from a volunteering project that aims to facilitate intergenerational cooperation between young and reduce feelings of loneliness of old citizens while at the same time increasing the digital expertise of older citizens.

After registration, the participants complete a pre-survey. After completion the enrolled young volunteers are randomly paired with an elderly person and assigned to one of the three treatment conditions using a pure randomization procedure. Subsequently, they receive the weekly goal, select their preferred type of job reference and answer control questions on the treatments. The senior mentees take part in an additional competency test, which is repeated at the end of the trial to measure the change in smartphone skills. While volunteers in the control group are incentivised with a simple job reference without any information on their individual performance, students in the remaining two conditions receive the opportunity to earn up to 100 “engagement points” on their “detailed” job reference, depending (a) on how often they achieve the weekly goal of providing assistance at least once per week by phoning or video-chatting and (b) the underlying PMA (see above).

Experiment 1:
The intervention period takes ten weeks. During this period the older mentees work on tasks using their smartphones every week. The younger mentors can support them. Furthermore, we observe weekly target achievement, based on the telephone protocol of participants on these activities.
In a post intervention period of ten weeks, we further observe the smartphone behavior and the exchange between the young and older participants for three weeks, to see whether they continue their volunteering commitment by working together with their mentees on further smartphone tasks.
The study ends with a post-test. Both tandems participate in a post-survey. The elderly persons will also conduct the same competency test, they have already conducted in the pre-intervention period. Most importantly, the young volunteers report the exchange with their mentees by uploading screenshots of the telephone protocol (only phone and video calls with their mentees during the past thirteen weeks, no contents). A crosscheck of the smartphone usage data of both tandem partners allows further statements about the contact intensity and frequency. The participation fee of 15 € will be paid for taking part in both surveys, reporting the exchange with their tandem partners and downloading the app to measure smartphone usage.

The fist tandems started on April 20th. A second wave of tandems started two weeks later. Since new elderly participants can still participate, new tandems are still conveyed. This is due to high scepticism towards smartphone related tasks by this subgroup, which sometimes takes time for convincing.

Experiment 2:
The intervention period takes nine weeks. Elderly participants take part in smartphone-, tablet- or computer--related courses. The younger mentors can support them in this time. Furthermore, we observe weekly target achievement, based on the telephone protocol of participants on these activities. In rare cases, the courses are only given for a small amount of weeks, which is why a shorter intervention period may be chosen.
In a post intervention period of eleven weeks, we further observe the exchange between the young and older participants, to see whether they continue their volunteering commitment by working together with their mentees on further smartphone-related, tablet-related or computer-related tasks.
The study ends with a post-test. Both tandems participate in a post-survey. The elderly persons will also conduct the same competency test, they have already conducted in the pre-intervention period. Most importantly, the young volunteers report the exchange with their mentees by uploading screenshots of the telephone protocol or secreenshots from the computer or tablet (only phone and video calls with their mentees during the past thirteen weeks, no contents). A crosscheck of the smartphone usage data of both tandem partners allows further statements about the contact intensity and frequency. The participation fee of 15 € will be paid for taking part in both surveys, reporting the exchange with their tandem partners and downloading the app to measure smartphone usage.

After a pre-study in 2019, the first tandems started on october 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemia many courses are on hold.


Experiment 3:
The intervention period takes nine weeks. Elderly participants are selflearners for smartphone, computer or tabletskills. They get official learning documents to deepen and learn new skills. The younger mentors can support them in this time. Furthermore, we observe weekly target achievement, based on the telephone protocol of participants on these activities.
In a post intervention period of eleven weeks, we further observe the exchange between the young and older participants, to see whether they continue their volunteering commitment by working together with their mentees on further smartphone-related, tablet-related or computer-related tasks.
The study ends with a post-test. Both tandems participate in a post-survey. The elderly persons will also conduct the same competency test, they have already conducted in the pre-intervention period. Most importantly, the young volunteers report the exchange with their mentees by uploading screenshots of the telephone protocol or secreenshots from the computer or tablet (only phone and video calls with their mentees during the past thirteen weeks, no contents). A crosscheck of the smartphone usage data of both tandem partners allows further statements about the contact intensity and frequency. The participation fee of 15 € will be paid for taking part in both surveys, reporting the exchange with their tandem partners and downloading the app to measure smartphone usage.


The three experiments are chosen to test our mechanism in many realistic settings. Furthermore, the corona pandemic hinders us to deepen our analysis in the context of experiment 2.

Randomization into the three treatment groups is done by a computerized random draw.

Individual (volunteers)

No

0

200 tandems are planned

66 volunteers in each treatment condition