Historical and pluralist perspectives on motivation crowding theory

Abstract

The decreasing or increasing effect of extrinsic incentives on intrinsic motivation is called motivation crowding. In this thesis a conceptual history of the motivation crowding effect is presented. The contributions to motivation crowding theory of multiple disciplines are combined to show the development of the concept. To get a good understanding of the development, it is presented in the context of the broader development of incentive theory and economics in general. The thesis shows that motivation crowding theory contributes in two ways to incentive theory. Firstly, it providing insights in the conditions under which extrinsic incentives crowd out intrinsic motivation. Secondly, it shows that the underlying assumptions of mainstream economic incentive theory might not be that solid.