IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kei/dpaper/2012-009.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What motivates volunteer work in an emergency? Evidence from the 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Author

Listed:
  • Isamu Yamamoto

    (Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University)

  • Kazuyasu Sakamoto

    (Faculty of Economics, Keio University)

Abstract

This paper studies the mechanism of volunteer labor supply using panel data gathered during the period before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, which occurred on March 11, 2011. The results obtained from descriptive statistics and random probit model estimates show that the lower the opportunity costs of workers were, the more inclined they were to participate in volunteer activities prior to the earthquake. However, the data also suggests that this trend had become reversed during the period following the earthquake. This shift indicates that besides opportunity costs, factors such as altruistic and philanthropic sentiment may have inspired people to volunteer, particularly when serious conditions necessitate urgent assistance.

Suggested Citation

  • Isamu Yamamoto & Kazuyasu Sakamoto, 2012. "What motivates volunteer work in an emergency? Evidence from the 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami," Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Discussion Paper Series 2012-009, Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Program.
    • Handle: RePEc:kei:dpaper:2012-009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ies.keio.ac.jp/old_project/old/gcoe-econbus/pdf/dp/DP2012-009.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freeman, Richard B, 1997. "Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 140-166, January.
    2. Menchik, Paul L. & Weisbrod, Burton A., 1987. "Volunteer labor supply," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 159-183, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lange, Martin & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & Berg, Gerard J. van den, 2017. "Integrating young male refugees : initial evidence from an inclusive soccer project," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 51(1), pages 1-6.
    2. Berg, Gerard van den & Kolb, Michael & Lange, Martin & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm, 2016. "Integrating refugees in the Rhine-Neckar-Region: Initial evidence from an inclusive soccer project," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 149872.
    3. H. Daimon & T. Atsumi, 2018. "Simulating disaster volunteerism in Japan: “Pay It Forward” as a strategy for extending the post-disaster altruistic community," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 93(2), pages 699-713, September.
    4. Fabio Sabatini & Francesco Sarracino, 2017. "Online Networks and Subjective Well-Being," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 456-480, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William F. Stine, 2008. "An empirical analysis of the effect of volunteer labor on public library employment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 525-538.
    2. De Gruyter, Elaine & Petrie, Dennis & Black, Nicole, 2023. "Household donations of time and money in response to a health shock," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    3. Stephan Meier & Alois Stutzer, 2008. "Is Volunteering Rewarding in Itself?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(297), pages 39-59, February.
    4. Franz Hackl & Martin Halla & Gerald Pruckner, 2012. "Volunteering and the state," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 465-495, June.
    5. Damiano Fiorillo, 2011. "Do Monetary Rewards Crowd Out The Intrinsic Motivation Of Volunteers? Some Empirical Evidence For Italian Volunteers," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 82(2), pages 139-165, June.
    6. Franz Hackl & Martin Halla & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2007. "Volunteering and Income – The Fallacy of the Good Samaritan?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 77-104, February.
    7. Lionel Prouteau & François‐Charles Wolff, 2004. "Relational Goods and Associational Participation," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 431-463, September.
    8. repec:zbw:rwirep:0349 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Guido Cozzi & Noemi Mantovan & Robert M. Sauer, 2017. "Does it Pay to Work for Free? Negative Selection and the Wage Returns to Volunteer Experience," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1018-1045, December.
    10. Carpenter, Jeffrey P. & Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2007. "Why Volunteer? Evidence on the Role of Altruism, Reputation, and Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 3021, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Simon Cornée & Ariane Szafarz, 2018. "How Costly is Social Screening? Evidence from the Banking Industry," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(1), pages 532-540.
    12. Bruno S. Frey & Lorenz Goette, "undated". "Does Pay Motivate Volunteers?," IEW - Working Papers 007, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    13. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2015. "Voluntary Activities and Daily Happiness in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 8764, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Robert M. Sauer, 2015. "Does It Pay For Women To Volunteer?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(2), pages 537-564, May.
    15. Cappellari, Lorenzo & Ghinetti, Paolo & Turati, Gilberto, 2011. "On time and money donations," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 853-867.
    16. Naomi E. Feldman, 2005. "Choosing Between Charitable Activities," Working Papers 0516, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    17. Schady, Norbert R., 2001. "Who participates : the supply of volunteer labor and the distribution of government programs in rural Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2671, The World Bank.
    18. Shibly Shahrier & Koji Kotani, 2016. "Labor Donation Or Money Donation? Pro-Sociality On Prevention Of Natural Disasters In A Case Of Cyclone Aila, Bangladesh," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(01), pages 1-26, March.
    19. Heinz, Matthias & Schumacher, Heiner, 2017. "Signaling cooperation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 199-216.
    20. Sarah Brown & Karl Taylor, 2019. "Charitable Behaviour and Political Ideology: Evidence for the UK," Working Papers 2019002, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    21. Duncan, Brian, 1999. "Modeling charitable contributions of time and money," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 213-242, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kei:dpaper:2012-009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Global COE Program Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iekeijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.