Competition in Innovation, Intrinsic Motivation, and Environmental Policy *

Competition in technology may not only stimulate the innovation motive but also affect intrinsic motivations towards CSR. Chapter 12 investigates the theoretical and empirical relevance of this so-called motivation crowding effect for owner-managers’ intrinsic motivation towards CSR. Motivation crowding theory has argued that external pressures enforce (crowd in) intrinsic motivation if these pressures are perceived as supportive. Based on this theory, we conjecture that a competitive environment that is characterized by a high intensity of competition on technology will crowd in intrinsic CSR motivation if owner-managers believe that CSR increase the innovative capability of their company. Test results support this hypothesis.