2000/09/01 by Jerry Z. Park, Christian Smith · 306 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Context (archaeology) #General Social Survey #Geography #Identity (music) #Law #Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering #Political science #Protestantism #Psychology #Religion and Society Interactions #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology #Religiosity #Religious identity #Religious organization #Social capital #Social psychology #Social science #Socialization #Sociology #Sociology of religion #Voluntarism (philosophy)
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/0021-8294.00023
published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 39(3), 272-286 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2000/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Research on volunteering behavior has consistently found a positive relationship between religion and volunteering. Using a sample of churchgoing Protestants (N=1,738)from the Religious Identity and Influence Survey we examine the specific influences of religiosity, religious identity, religious socialization, and religious social networks on local volunteer activity in church programs and non‐church organizations, as well as general volunteering tendencies. These influences are presented within the theoretical framework of religious capital. Logistic regression techniques were applied to determine the strength of the contribution of these influences while accounting for basic background factors. Findings suggest that churchgoing Protestants are influenced by all measures to some degree, but religiosity (specifically participation in church activities) remains the strongest influence. Significant religious influences overall are most pronounced within the context of church‐related volunteering which suggests that churchgoing Protestants exhibit a strong sense of community identity through their local churches. A discussion of these results and their implications for volunteering follows.