Effects of information and motivational orientation on harvest of a declining renewable resource

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Abstract
This article examines how individuals’ harvest behavior is affected by their motivational orientation and different types of information regarding a declining renewable resource. We considered individuals who are either “individualistic” or “cooperative” in orientation and hypothesized this orientation is an important and constant influence on harvesting behavior as a renewable resource declines. Further, we hypothesized that whether individuals have specific and exact information, broad categorical information, or no information about the general state of the declining renewable resource will affect their harvesting behavior. To test these hypotheses, we conducted an experiment using a 2 X 3 factorial design. Results indicate motivational orientation had a consistent effect on harvesting behavior; cooperative subjects requested fewer resources than did individualistic subjects. Overall, subjects of both orientations decreased their harvest requests over time by similar amounts as the resource pool became depleted. Finally, results showed that as the pool became depleted, subjects provided with categorical information decreased their requests by a greater amount than did subjects provided specific information or no information. Possible management implications of this research and body of literature are discussed.