A Volunteer’s Dilemma with  Increasing Costs and Decreasing Benefits

This experimental study with three between-subject conditions investigated the influence of increasing costs and decreasing benefits on decision making in a volunteer’s dilemma. It is important to investigate factors that influence decision making in volunteer’s dilemmas, as these situations are frequently encountered in everyday life. This research focused on individual costs that increase over time and group benefits that decrease over time. Specifically, it was hypothesized that participants would volunteer more rapidly in increasing costs/decreasing benefits conditions than in the control condition. Further, it was hypothesized that participants would volunteer less frequently in total in the increasing costs / decreasing benefits conditions compared to the control condition. These hypotheses were based on the literature on inaction inertia. A linear regression analysis showed that participants volunteered more rapidly if the costs of volunteering increased over time and even...Show moreThis experimental study with three between-subject conditions investigated the influence of increasing costs and decreasing benefits on decision making in a volunteer’s dilemma. It is important to investigate factors that influence decision making in volunteer’s dilemmas, as these situations are frequently encountered in everyday life. This research focused on individual costs that increase over time and group benefits that decrease over time. Specifically, it was hypothesized that participants would volunteer more rapidly in increasing costs/decreasing benefits conditions than in the control condition. Further, it was hypothesized that participants would volunteer less frequently in total in the increasing costs / decreasing benefits conditions compared to the control condition. These hypotheses were based on the literature on inaction inertia. A linear regression analysis showed that participants volunteered more rapidly if the costs of volunteering increased over time and even more rapidly when the benefits decreased over time compared to the control condition where costs and benefits remained the same. Lastly, a binary logistic regression analysis showed that the frequency of volunteering did not differ significantly across conditions. Implications of this research are discussed.Show less

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A Volunteer’s Dilemma with Increasing Costs and Decreasing Benefits