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Field
Trial Status
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Before
in_development
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After
on_going
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Field
Abstract
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Before
The high importance of career-oriented motivations within the group of young volunteers and recent evidence that volunteering references can improve employment opportunities, suggests that job references for volunteers can motivate young adults to engage in volunteering activities. However, the question of whether job references can also have a motivational effect on the performance and continuation of volunteering remains unanswered. We assume that performance-based job references can help charitable organizations and volunteers to achieve desired volunteer behaviour better than simple job reference without individual performance indication.
In a field experiment in which young volunteers sign up to support elderly citizens as mentor over a longer period of time in using and learning of smartphone applications, we address this research gap and investigate whether and to which extent performance based job references with different underlying performance assessment mechanisms (bonus, single bet, repeated betting) can motivate existing volunteers to enlarge their volunteering activities and engage regularly with high intensity for their elderly mentees.
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After
The high importance of career-oriented motivations within the group of young volunteers and recent evidence that volunteering references can improve employment opportunities, suggests that job references for volunteers can motivate young adults to engage in volunteering activities. However, the question of whether job references can also have a motivational effect on the performance and continuation of volunteering remains unanswered. We assume that performance-based job references can help charitable organizations and volunteers to achieve desired volunteer behaviour better than simple job reference without individual performance indication.
In a field experiment in which young volunteers sign up to support elderly citizens as mentor over a longer period of time in using smartphones computers or tablets, we address this research gap and investigate whether and to which extent performance based job references with different underlying performance assessment mechanisms (bonus, repeated betting) can motivate existing volunteers to enlarge their volunteering activities and engage regularly with high intensity for their elderly mentees.
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Field
Trial End Date
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Before
December 31, 2020
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After
December 31, 2021
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Field
Last Published
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Before
July 04, 2020 01:37 AM
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After
July 15, 2021 09:10 AM
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
June 30, 2020
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After
December 31, 2021
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
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 (T3) 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.
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After
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.
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Field
Randomization Method
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Before
Randomization into the four treatment groups is done by a computerized random draw.
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After
Randomization into the three treatment groups is done by a computerized random draw.
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
32 tandems are planned
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After
200 tandems are planned
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
8 volunteers in each treatment condition
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After
66 volunteers in each treatment condition
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Field
Keyword(s)
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Before
Education, Governance, Labor, Other
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After
Education, Governance, Labor, Other
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Field
Intervention (Hidden)
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Before
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 - Single Bet: Receive the maximum of 100 points, if you achieve the weekly goal in nine of ten weeks. Fall to a low engagement point level if you fail.
T3 - 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}, T2 [Single Bet: detailed reference, PAM based on a single long-term bet} and T3 [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 smartphone applications. Thus, volunteers starting during the corona pandemic solely provide support via phone or video calls.
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After
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.
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