Getting into the ‘Giving Habit’: The Dynamics of Volunteering in the UK

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23 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Scholarship on volunteering has paid insufficient attention to how experiences of volunteering in the past affect current and future participation. The importance of this relationship is emphasized by the introduction of public policies across the globe focusing on national service programmes and community service in schools with the underlying intention of inducing ongoing pro-social behavior. Using the UK longitudinal data, this article analyzes the prevalence of persistent individual volunteering behavior over the life-course, and most importantly, the extent to which past volunteering has a causal influence on current and future participation. Strong evidence of this relationship is provided, suggesting that volunteer-stimulating policy measures—such as the UK government’s National Citizen Service initiative for all young people between 16 and 17 years of age—will have a more profound effect because they do not only affect current volunteering activities but are also likely to induce a permanent change in favor of volunteering.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1006-1021
Number of pages16
JournalVoluntas
Volume30
Issue number5
Early online date13 Jun 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • Persistence
  • Social capital
  • Social policy
  • Voluntary work
  • Warm glow
  • Sustainability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Public Administration
  • Strategy and Management

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