The Road to Volunteering is Paved with Good Intentions: Volunteering in Immigrant Congregations as a Response to Religious, Social and Instrumental Motivations

The literature on volunteering has consistently found a positive relationship between an individual’s religious proclivity and volunteering. However, one might argue that for immigrants wishing to integrate – socially and economically – into a host society, the decision to volunteer will be equally influenced by other instrumental motives. Thus, we propose three theoretical frameworks that might explain volunteering in immigrant congregations: 1) religious beliefs, 2) social influence of peer congregants and authoritative clergy, and 3) perceived instrumental benefits of enhancing human and social capital. Using a sample of 495 congregants from 23 ethnic immigrant congregations in Philadelphia, we examine the effects of each of these motivations on immigrant volunteering. Findings suggest that among all first-generation immigrants, volunteering is strongly associated with religious beliefs, but among recent immigrants the decision to volunteer is further explained by instrumental motivations and social influence of peer congregants. A discussion of these results for volunteer administration follows