National Context, Religiosity, and Volunteering: Results from 53 Countries

Ruiter, Stijn; De Graaf, Nan Dirk

doi:10.1177/000312240607100202

Cited by 451Nonprofit Sector and VolunteeringReligion and Society InteractionsReligion, Society, and Development

National Context, Religiosity, and Volunteering: Results from 53 Countries

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Ruiter, Stijn, De Graaf, Nan Dirk·2006·American Sociological Review

DOI 10.1177/000312240607100202

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Abstract

To what extent does the national religious context affect volunteering? Does a religious environment affect the relation between religiosity and volunteering? To answer these questions, this study specifies individual level, contextual level, and cross-level interaction hypotheses. The authors test the hypotheses by simultaneously studying the impact of religiosity of individuals, the national religious context, and their interplay on volunteering while controlling for possible confounding factors both at individual and contextual levels. Based on multilevel analyses on data from 53 countries, frequent churchgoers are more active in volunteer work and a devout national context has an additional positive effect. However, the difference between secular and religious people is substantially smaller in devout countries than in secular countries. Church attendance is hardly relevant for volunteering in devout countries. Furthermore, religious volunteering has a strong spillover effect, implying that religious citizens also volunteer more for secular organizations. This spillover effect is stronger for Catholics than for Protestants, non-Christians and nonreligious individuals.

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Authors: Ruiter, S., & De Graaf, N. D.
Affiliations: Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
Radboud University Nijmegen
Corresponding author: Ruiter, Stijn
ORCID: Ruiter, Stijn
Venue: American Sociological Review
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2006-04
Volume: 71
Issue: 2
Pages: 191-210
ISSN: 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
1939-8271
DOI: 10.1177/000312240607100202
OpenAlex: W2113996845
Cited by: 451
References: 70
Citations by year: 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 41
FWCI: 33.67
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
research.rug.nl
Licence: other-oa
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion, Society, and Development
Keywords: volunteering, religiosity, church attendance, religious volunteering, spillover effects, Catholicism, Protestantism, cross-national comparison

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National Context, Religiosity, and Volunteering: Results from 53 Countries

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