Combining internal and external motivations in multi-actor governance arrangements for biodiversity and ecosystem services

These files provide the original survey data of the paper on motivations for biodiversity conservation in Europe. This paper analyses the possibility of building a mutually supportive dynamics between internally and
externally motivated behaviour for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision. To this
purpose a face to face survey amongst 169 key actors of 34 highly successful and prominent biodiversity
arrangements in seven EU countries was conducted. The main
finding of the paper is the feasibility of
combining inherently intrinsically motivated behaviours (providing enjoyment, pleasure from
experimentation and learning, aesthetic satisfaction) and internalized extrinsic motivations (related
to the identification with the collective goals of conservation policy) through a common set of governance
features. Successful initiatives that combine internal and external motivations share the following
features: inclusive decision making processes, a broad monitoring by “peers” beyond the core staff of the
initiatives, and a context that is supportive for the building of autonomous actor competences. These
findings are in line with the psycho-sociological theory of motivation, which shows the importance of a
psycho-social context leading to a subjective perception of autonomy and a sense of competence of the
actors.