On the Up: Voluntary Sector Wages in the UK 1998 - 2007

Since 1997 the UK Government has sought to expand the provision of public services by the independent nonprofit sector. With policies to build the capacity of the sector, public spending on voluntary organisations has grown from £2 billion in 1996/97 to £6.88 billion in 2005/06. Theory suggests that the comparative advantage of nonprofits lies in the mission-motivation of those who work in them, and predicts that motivated workers will accept lower wages. We examine sector wage differentials in time-series to show that growth in voluntary sector wages has outpaced the private and public sectors. This state intervention in the market has had big consequences for the make-up of the voluntary sector workforce

Where is the Warm Glow? The Labour Market in the Voluntary Sector

Why do people work in the voluntary sector? Is the sector distinct, with characteristics that differentiate it from the private and public sectors? Is it important to consider the existence of the so-called ‘third sector’ when analysing behaviour in the labour market? Is altruism really an important motivation for workers in this sector? This dissertation is concerned specifically with the labour market in the voluntary sector: that is, workers who are the paid employees of independent nonprofit organisations. Using a large, national dataset, we explore empirically the predictions of the economic theory of voluntary organisations. In particular, is there evidence for a ‘warm glow’, the extra utility that workers receive for working towards a goal that they share with their employer? Does this glow exist, and is it brighter in the voluntary sector? We examine in turn sector differences in wages, working hours, and find evidence that employment in the voluntary sector is significantly different in some characteristics from both the private and public sectors. The main economic theories of voluntary sector wage-setting rely on some formulation of ‘warm glow’ utility or intrinsic motivation derived from working for an organisation with a mission shared by motivated employees. This leads to a prediction of lower wages in the voluntary sector. The empirical findings in the existing literature have focussed on US data, and the results have been mixed. Using pooled cross-sectional and panel datasets based on UK employment data between 1997 and 2007, we show that there is some evidence of warm-glow wage discounts in the sector for male workers, but that these wage differences have been eroded as the sector has grown. Although there is not a significant sector wage difference found for women, there is evidence that they have also experienced faster wage growth in the voluntary sector than the private. There are significant sector differences in working hours within the Health & Social Work industries, particularly in overtime working. Workers in the voluntary sector work more hours of unpaid overtime, whilst those in the private sector work more hours of paid overtime. Controlling for overtime hours has a significant effect on sector wage differentials. In particular, accounting for unpaid overtime results in evidence of a warm-glow wage discount for female workers. We analyse this data at a time when the sector has been growing dramatically, driven by government policy to reform public services. Our findings suggest that this policy has had unintended consequences for the voluntary sector labour market

Where is the Warm Glow? Donated Labour and Nonprofit Wage Differentials in the Health and Social Work Industries

The “Warm Glow” theory of worker motivation in nonprofit organisations predicts that wages will be lower in the voluntary sector than for equivalent workers in the private and public sectors. Empirical findings, however, are mixed. Focussing on the Health & Social Work industries, we examine differences in levels of unpaid overtime between the sectors to test for the existence of a warm-glow effect. Although levels of unpaid overtime are significantly higher in voluntary sector, we find that this is insufficient to explain the wage premiums earned in this sector

Free personal care for older people : a wider perspective on its costs

The paper comments on the so-called "Free Personal Care (FPC)" policy established in Scotland in 2002. FPC is the legal entitlement of people aged 65 and older, who have been assessed by the council as having personal care needs, to receive services that will assist them in their day-to-day activities. One view is that FPC may not be affordable in its current form because population ageing will increase dramatically the numbers eligible for assistance in the future. This paper discusses ways in which FPC may actually lower the total per-person cost of accommodating Scotland's ageing population

Career Concerns versus Shared Values:An Empirical Investigation

We study the relationship between career concerns and shared values empirically using employee-employer matched data for the United Kingdom and overtime hours as a proxy for hard work. In line with standard career-concerns theory (Holmstr ¨om 1982) we find that employees work less overtime, the longer they have been with their current employer. We also find that employees who agree strongly with the statement, “I share many of the values of my organisation” do roughly 20% more overtime than the rest. Our results suggest the existence of a trade-off between career concerns and shared values. We begin to consider some potential implications of thi

ClassDojo poses data protection concerns for parents

Ben Williamson and Alasdair Rutherford raise a series of concerns about the globally popular classroom management app ClassDojo. They argue that as ClassDojo has grown into a new social media site for schools, it poses a number of risks in relation to data protection and child privacy, and to how children, teachers and parents interact. Ben and Alasdair are both based in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling, UK. Ben is a Lecturer in Education, and led the ESRC funded project Code Acts in Education to explore the implications of digital data technologies in education. Alasdair is a Senior Lecturer in Social Statistics

Dementia, home care and institutionalisation from hospitals in older people

This study examines the relationship between dementia and institutionalisation directly after hospital discharges in older people and explores potential mediators of the association. Our analyses are based on linked Scottish administrative health and social care data, including 79,983 hospital stays for 43,753 patients aged 65 or over. Our results show that dementia patients are more likely to be discharged to care institutions compared with non-dementia patients (odds ratio=17). Further analyses reveal that this can be partially explained by the fact that dementia patients are more likely to have injury-related admissions and long hospital stays. This indirect effect accounts for around 6\% of the total effect. We also investigate the effect of receiving home care, finding no evidence that it influences the likelihood of institutionalisation from hospitals in older people

Measuring growth of the nonprofit sector: The choice of indicator matters

Interestingly, although many authors consent that non-profit organizations and the non-profit sector have grown in many countries, there is little discussion of how to best measure this growth. Looking at the broad universe of non-profit organizations, there is no single measure that is relevant for the whole sector and captures changes adequately. This article gives an overview of commonly-used growth measures in the existing non-profit literature and discusses the informative value of the various measures. Using Austrian and Scottish time-series data we present an empirical example of how the growth story of the non-profit sector can change depending on the measures used. The correlations between measures such as the number of organizations, income/expenditures and assets are particularly small. We recommend that researchers measuring the growth of the non-profit sector should be clear about the properties of their selected measure, and where possible should present alternative measures in their analysis

Promoting charity accountability: Understanding disclosure of serious incidents

Charities are under increasing pressure to be accountable. Using a novel dataset, we provide the first analysis of the characteristics of charities voluntarily disclosing details of serious incidents that may threaten their organisation. Financial loss, fraud and theft, and personal behaviour account for a majority of serious incidents reported. Larger, older organisations that have previously been subject to a regulatory investigation are more likely to report serious incidents. However, it is smaller, younger charities where the regulator perceives there to be greater risk of organisational demise arising from the incident

The Determinants of Charity Misconduct

Charities in the UK have been the subject of intense media, political and public scrutiny in recent times; however our understanding of the nature, extent and determinants of charity misconduct is weak. Drawing upon a novel administrative dataset of 25,611 charities for the period 2006-2014 in Scotland, we develop models to predict two dimensions of charity misconduct: regulatory investigation and subsequent action. There have been 2,109 regulatory investigations of 1,566 Scottish charities over the study period, of which 31 percent resulted in regulatory action being taken. Complaints from members of the public are most likely to trigger an investigation, while the most common concerns relate to general governance and misappropriation of assets. Our multivariate analysis reveals a disconnect between the types of charities that are suspected of misconduct and those that are subject to subsequent regulatory action