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 Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly
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A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering: Is It All About

Résumé Building?
Femida Handy, Ram A. Cnaan, Lesley Hustinx, Chulhee Kang, Jeffrey L. Brudney,
Debbie Haski-Leventhal, Kirsten Holmes, Lucas C. P. M. Meijs, Anne Birgitta Pessi,
Bhagyashree Ranade, Naoto Yamauchi and Sinisa Zrinscak
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 2010; 39; 498 originally published online
Sep 3, 2009;
DOI: 10.1177/0899764009344353

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 Nonprofit and Voluntary
Sector Quarterly
Volume 39 Number 3
June 2010 498-523
A Cross-Cultural Examination © 2010 Sage Publications
10.1177/0899764009344353
of Student Volunteering: Is It http://nvsq.sagepub.com
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All About Résumé Building? http://online.sagepub.com

Femida Handy
Ram A. Cnaan
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Lesley Hustinx
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Chulhee Kang
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Jeffrey L. Brudney
Syracuse University, New York
Debbie Haski-Leventhal
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Kirsten Holmes
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Lucas C. P. M. Meijs
Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Anne Birgitta Pessi
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Bhagyashree Ranade
Marketing & Market Research Consultants, Pune, India
Naoto Yamauchi
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Sinisa Zrinscak
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit
that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhanc-
ing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering sig-
nals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer

Authors’ Note: Femida Handy, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 3701
Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6214; email: [email protected]

498

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   499

participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteer-

ing, those students who volunteer for utilitarian reasons will be more likely to volunteer
but will exhibit less time-intensive volunteering. Using survey data from 12 countries
(n = 9,482), we examine our hypotheses related to motivations to volunteer, volunteer
participation, and country differences. Findings suggest that students motivated to
volunteer for building their résumés do not volunteer more than students with other
motives. However, in countries with a positive signaling value of volunteering, volun-
teering rates are significantly higher. As expected, students motivated by résumé build-
ing motivations have a lower intensity of volunteering.

Keywords: volunteering, signaling, cross-cultural comparison, student, résumé building

Introduction

The reasons why people volunteer have long fascinated academic researchers and
other observers. Given that most volunteering activity is not compensated monetar-
ily and imposes net costs on the volunteer, a strict cost-benefit analysis would sug-
gest that such behavior will not be undertaken (Handy et al., 2000). Yet volunteering
is ubiquitous around the world, and this begets research on the underlying motiva-
tions to volunteer (MTV) and its impact on volunteer participation. An extensive lit-
erature examines MTV in different locations and circumstances and concludes that
individuals volunteer for a myriad of motives. Two classes of motivations dominate
and are often found to coexist: altruistic or values-based motives and utilitarian
motivations (Cnaan & Goldberg-Glen, 1991). Altruistic or values-based MTV include
religious beliefs, supporting an important cause, helping others, and so on. Utilitarian
motives include enhancing human capital, for example, gaining work experience
and job training, developing new skills, exploring career paths, enhancing résumés,
or making contacts useful for paid employment. A third category of motivations also
exist—social motives—which include extending one’s social networks, volunteer-
ing because friends or colleagues do so, responding to social pressures to volunteer,
and so on (Cappellarri & Turati, 2004).1
Among students, additional contextual MTV factors may influence volunteering
activities. For example, the signaling role volunteering plays in the labor market and
in admission into institutions of higher learning may also affect students’ MTV.
Economic theory has suggested that volunteering plays a unique role in the labor
market through its use as a signaling device. Spence (1973) first proposed the value
of signals in the labor market as well as in the educational market: applicants for jobs
and admissions have to signal in a convincing manner why they should be the can-
didate of choice. Katz and Rosenberg (2005) showed that in an environment charac-
terized by competition, volunteering serves as a signaling device through which the
volunteer signals the (potential) employer that he or she possesses qualities that
make him or her the candidate of choice.
500   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

The recruitment strategies used by volunteer coordinators worldwide are often

based on North American studies that are rarely replicated across different cultural
contexts. The present study may reveal that student volunteers cross-nationally have
different motivations. Understanding these motivations and the differences across
cultures is important to organizations that wish to recruit these volunteers. To appeal
to altruistic motives as a recruitment strategy when volunteers are looking for career
enhancement opportunities, or vice versa, is not useful for either party. By contrast,
understanding the differences across cultures of the signaling value of volunteering
can help to frame volunteer opportunities that benefit both organizations and the stu-
dent volunteers they attempt—and need—to recruit.

Literature Review: The Payoff of Volunteering

for University Students
Studies based in the United States have found that students who volunteer are
more likely than nonvolunteers to have leadership ability, social self-confidence,
and skills in critical thinking and conflict resolution (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin,
Sax, & Avalos, 1999). Hence an employer faced with many suitable applicants
may use volunteer experiences to infer skills, or even increased marginal produc-
tivity, thus enabling applicants to use their volunteering experiences as positive
signals and to compete successfully, enhance career prospects, command higher
salaries, and get better jobs (Freeman, 1997; Menchik & Weisbrod, 1987; Prouteau
& Wolff, 2006).
Substantial theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence suggest that many
people engage in volunteering activities to improve their employment prospects by
increasing their human capital (e.g., Carlin, 2001; Day & Devlin, 1998; Gunderson
& Gomez, 2003; Menchik & Weisbrod, 1987; Segal & Weisbrod, 2002); expanding
their social contacts, which may be used to get better jobs (Wuthnow, 1998); or
sending a positive (volunteering) signal to employers (Ellingsen & Johannesson,
2003; Katz & Rosenberg, 2005; Ziemek, 2006). In the literature volunteering serves
as a signaling device through which volunteers signal the (potential) employer or
admission officer that they are “desirable” candidates who are willing to incur net
costs of their volunteering activities to serve the public good. Employers generally
find them to be “good organizational citizens” who will be more productive employ-
ees and likely to forgo their private interests for the sake of the organization. Identifying
these good citizens is crucial for the employer. Employers use an individual’s vol-
unteering experience as a proxy or signal for the otherwise hard to observe charac-
teristic, good organizational citizenship. It comes as no surprise that it is suggested
that employers should “recruit individuals prone to engage in organizational citizen
behaviors and avoid individuals who are egocentric” (Organ, 1988). Consequently,
individuals with volunteering experience tend to be hired or command a higher wage
(Katz & Rosenberg, 2005)

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   501

Empirical research for the most part supports this line of reasoning. Using Austrian
data, Hackl, Halla, and Pruckner (2007) found evidence of a wage premium of 18.7%
on average for volunteers. A Canadian study found a 6%-7% return on volunteering
in annual earnings for Canadian workers (Day & Devlin, 1998). However, a recent
contribution using French data by Prouteau and Wolff (2005) found no statistically
significant wage premium for volunteers.
Although these studies do not deal specifically with any particular population, their
findings may be all the more cogent for university students as they are more likely
to be in transition from student life to the labor force or institutions of higher learn-
ing. Typically, they will be more engaged in producing résumés in which it is evi-
dent that they are desirable candidates. Given the scarcity of good jobs or limited
admission to institutions of higher education, the competition for such positions will
increase the need of signaling in this population as compared to the population at
large. Indeed, in those countries where such signaling is an accepted norm (the United
States and Canada) it is likely that the MTV for this cohort will reflect the utilitarian
motives that are career related. Friedland and Morimoto (2005) have argued that
many youth do volunteer out of self-interest, with the express purpose to “pad their
résumé.” They write, “Much of this volunteerism . . . has been shaped by the percep-
tion that voluntary and civic activity is necessary to get into any college, and the
better the college (or, more precisely, the higher the perception of the college in the
status system) the more volunteerism students believed was necessary” (pp. 10-11).
Indeed, as mounting competitive pressures to obtain admission in institutions of
higher learning and find good jobs rise, students are more likely to seek out the
types of volunteering experiences that help résumé-padding. Marks and Jones
(2004) found that volunteering increases among those who volunteer for episodic
and less demanding purposes, rather than among those who view volunteering as
an expression of their core values. This result does not imply that all volunteering
is undertaken for instrumental reasons in the pursuit of résumé building, as many
students are engaged for complex reasons with multiple motives. Motives such as
altruism, religious values, and care for those less fortunate can coexist with that of
résumé padding. However, due to increasing pressure and competition to achieve
that youth face today, especially in North America, the payoff to volunteering and
its use in résumé building may be a powerful drive that can dominate other motives
in the decision to volunteer (Crosby, 1999).
Many popular web sites and publications in the United States and Canada exhort
students to volunteer. Echoing a theme found in many sources, Mitchell and Doyle
(2007) explained to students,

You know the dilemma: if you want to get a good job, you need experience; but to get
experience you need a job. One solution, you’ve been told, is to enhance your résumé
with descriptions of your volunteer activities and projects you’ve participated in and
the responsibilities you shouldered for each one. There’s no doubt that the time you

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502   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

spend as a volunteer or volunteer leader can be invaluable to you, not only for the often
unique experiences you gain but also because it can help you secure a better job in
summers and after graduation, open doors to networking opportunities with community
and business leaders, broaden your knowledge base, and give you a feeling of satisfac-
tion and fulfillment.

Institutions of higher learning may face comparable problems of deciding how to

select among equally qualified students. Additional information is often required or
provided in personal statements or at interviews that helps decision makers to select
students likely to succeed at the institution (Astin, 1998; Sax, 2000). Volunteering
experiences are one mechanism used to screen applicants to identify appropriate indi-
viduals. For example, a medical school applicant who has volunteered in a hospice
will likely be a better candidate for medical school than a candidate with a similar
academic profile but no volunteer experience (Smith and Weaver, 2006). In this
case, volunteering is signaling that the applicant cares about the health and welfare
of people and is more likely to be compassionate and therefore a better doctor. Thus
volunteering is used as a proxy for desirable personality characteristics. As a result,
we argue, individuals who volunteer are more likely to be admitted or hired and to
command higher salaries than nonvolunteering individuals.
National survey data for young people are limited and not available for all coun-
tries. Where such data do exist, however, higher rates of volunteering are observed
for young people compared to older adults. In the United States volunteering among
college-age students (19- to 24-year-olds) is fairly robust and rising. The rate was
20% in 2003, up from 18% the previous year, and in 2005 more than 30% of college
students volunteered, exceeding the volunteer rate in the general adult population of
28.8% (Volunteering in America, 2008). Higher rates of volunteering are evident in
data from the Freshman Survey conducted in 2002 in which a reported 82% of col-
lege freshmen volunteered for their community during their last year in high school.
If indeed volunteering activities were to help them gain admission to college, the
high rates of volunteering suggest a utilitarian purpose; it is not altogether surprising
that national rates of volunteering for this population (including students and nons-
tudents) are much lower. Interestingly, college students are twice as likely to volun-
teer as individuals of the same age who are not enrolled in an institution of higher
education (30.2% vs. 15.1%, respectively), again suggesting that volunteering may
have greater benefits for students in institutions of higher learning. Sax (2004), how-
ever, maintains that these high rates of volunteering in college are related to service
learning opportunities, the National Community Service Act, and to more high schools
requiring community service for graduation—hence, not all volunteering may result
from the student’s free choice.
In Canada, Hall, Lasby, Gumulka, and Tryon (2006) substantiated increases in
youth volunteering in 2004; more than half (55%) of all youth (15- to 24-year-olds)
volunteered as compared to the national average of 45% of all Canadians aged 15

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   503

and older who volunteered. This research also examined the MTV of volunteering and
showed that the decision to volunteer among youth differed from others: this group
was three times more likely to volunteer to improve their job opportunities than were
Canadians 25 years old or older (22%; Hall et al., 2006). Earlier national surveys of
Canadians demonstrated similar trends (Hall, McKeown, & Roberts, 2001; Jones,
2000). The volunteering rate among 15- to 19-year-olds was 37%, a rate 42% higher
than the average rate of volunteering for the population (26%). Moreover, these
younger volunteers were much more likely (55%) to indicate that improving job
opportunities was a reason for volunteering, than was the general population (23%).
In addition, a greater proportion of younger volunteers (24%) reported that volunteer-
ing had at some point helped them to gain employment as compared to the general
population (14%). As might be expected, the group most in need of labor market
credentials volunteered at higher rates than any other segment of the population.
Signals are very context specific; however, not all labor markets or educational
regimes interpret volunteering experiences in the same way. Although listing volun-
teering experiences on one’s résumé is de rigueur in the United States and Canada,
it may be quite novel, even inappropriate to do so, in the Netherlands (or other coun-
tries). One cannot but observe that using volunteering as a signal of a character type
is culturally rooted, and it is likely that although this is true in the North American
context, where much of the MTV literature is focused, it may not send similar sig-
nals in other contexts where volunteering may be seen as a religious duty or noblesse
oblige. In this case, volunteering cannot be understood instrumentally, and altruistic
MTV makes more sense in understanding volunteering. Thus, in contexts where employ-
ers and university admission officers need signals to assess and sort applicants, MTV
will include résumé building; in other contexts where educational achievements such
as grades, training certificates, or the like are sufficient to assess and sort applicants,
we will expect altruistic MTV to dominate.
Although several studies compare participation rates internationally (Curtis, Grabb,
& Baer, 1992; Hodgkinson, 2003; Ruiter & De Graaf, 2006; Salamon & Sokolowski,
2000), to our knowledge, only a few studies have offered cross-cultural comparisons
of MTV. Using the World Values Surveys of 1991-1993, Hwang, Grabb, and Curtis
(2005) compared MTV in Canada versus the United States. They found that volun-
teers in the United States see helping the poor and disadvantaged as part of their role
as citizens and were more likely than Canadians to mention altruistic reasons for join-
ing voluntary organizations. By contrast, Canadian volunteers see welfare needs ful-
filled by their government and, hence, are less likely to report MTV for altruistic reasons.
The differences are thus explained as a function of differing levels of social welfare
provision by the government. A second study by Ziemek (2006) examined MTV
across countries with different levels of economic development, namely, Bangladesh,
Ghana, Poland, and South Korea. By clustering MTV into three categories, “altruism,”
“egoism,” and “investment in human capital,” Ziemek also tested the differences in
MTV by the volunteer’s perceived level of public spending. High public spending

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504   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

was found to negatively influence altruistic MTV and positively influence investment
motivation. Based on Social Origins Theory, Salamon and Sokolowski (2000) link
primary MTV with different political and social regimes, suggesting that, for exam-
ple, in countries where government is not involved in providing social services, those
volunteering will be motivated to volunteer for altruistic reasons. As such, MTV is
influenced by environmental and contextual factors, which may also affect volun-
teering. To date, however, no study has focused on the impact of signaling as a factor
influencing student volunteering from a cross-national perspective.

Hypotheses

This study examines the impact of utilitarian MTV on rates of university stu-
dents’ volunteering in a cross-national context. We argue that rates of volunteering
will reflect the signaling value of volunteering in the particular country. We hypoth-
esize that the greater the positive signaling value of volunteering in labor markets
and educational institutions, the more students will volunteer. We focus our cross-
national comparisons on a particular population, university undergraduate students,
for various reasons. First, we can hold constant the variations in MTV that can be
ascribed to lifecycle and, thereby, focus on country variations. Second, MTV for
this cohort will most likely include all types: altruistic, utilitarian, and social.
Undergraduate students are at an age when it is important for them to maintain
social relations; they are idealistic about making changes in society; and they are at
a stage in their career at which, they most tangibly could benefit from using volun-
teering to enhance their career-related opportunities. Finally, more so than for other
population groups, their MTV are more likely to result in padding their résumés
either for graduate school or for better jobs.
In addition to the effect of MTV on rates of volunteering, we assess the impact
of utilitarian MTV and the signaling value of volunteering on the nature of volunteer
participation. Previous research has shown that MTV varies as a function of the
intensity of involvement, with long-term active volunteers significantly more likely
to reflect altruistic MTV than shorter-term episodic volunteers, who are likely to be
satisfying more self-interested MTV such as résumé building (Handy, Brodeur, &
Cnaan, 2006; Reed & Selbee, 2003). Given that in general, the costs of a long-term
and time-consuming involvement are significantly greater than those incurred by an
individual who volunteers sporadically or as a one-time activity (Cnaan & Handy,
2005), we expect utilitarian-driven volunteers to reduce their net costs by participat-
ing in more episodic volunteer opportunities that demand a smaller time investment
and are sufficient in meeting their utilitarian goals.
If utilitarian motives are particularly prevalent among university students, it is
highly relevant to examine whether this population also has a distinct style of involve-
ment. Sax (2004), for instance, noted that college students are more likely than the

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   505

general adult volunteer population (27% to 23.4%) to be engaged in volunteering

as “episodic” volunteers (volunteering fewer than 2 weeks per year with their main
organization), a likely pattern for those trying to build a résumé rather than for those
volunteering for other reasons (Dote, Cramer, Dietz, & Grimm, 2006).
Based on our discussion above, we frame several hypotheses and test them cross-
nationally to see if contextual differences can help to explain student volunteering.
The following hypotheses guide our empirical analysis:

Hypothesis 1a: Students who prefer résumé building MTV over altruism or social
motives are more likely to volunteer.
Hypothesis 1b: Student volunteering will vary by country. That is, we expect the North
American countries to show higher rates of résumé building MTV and enhanced
volunteer participation.

We further explore the instrumentalist view on volunteering by using as our

dependent variable the intensity of volunteer participation. We suggest that students
motivated by résumé building motives are likely to engage for fewer hours and more
episodic assignments just sufficient to enhance their résumés, whereas those with
altruistic motives are likely to engage for longer hours and more frequently to satisfy
their intrinsic needs. As such we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 2a: Students motivated by résumé building motives versus altruism or

social benefits will have lower intensity (hours and frequency) of volunteering.
Hypothesis 2b: The intensity (hours and frequency) of student volunteering participa-
tion will vary by country. We expect countries that have a high positive value of
volunteering as a signal—such as the United States and Canada—to demonstrate
lower intensity of volunteering.

Method

As the aim of the research was to examine student volunteering as a response

to differences in MTV in a cross-cultural context, data were collected in 12 coun-
tries: Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, England, Finland, the Netherlands, India,
Israel, Japan, Korea, and the United States. In each country a research team mem-
ber distributed questionnaires to at least 600 university students, mostly in class-
room settings. Data were collected in 2006-2007. Although surveys were not
distributed randomly, the very high number of respondents can support the repre-
sentativeness of the data.
As it was an international study, the questionnaire had to be translated and adapted
to the local language and culture. The English version of the questionnaire was first
piloted and revised. It was used in Canada, England, India, and the United States; in

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506   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

all other countries the questionnaire was translated, piloted, and reviewed by a panel
of experts before administration in the field.

Measures
A survey was designed for the purpose of the current study and included items
that were related to volunteering habits. More specifically, we use the following
three measures as our key dependent variables. First, to examine Hypothesis 1a and
Hypothesis 1b we use students’ participation in volunteering in formal organizations
the past 12 months (1 = yes, 0 = no).2 Second, to measure intensity of participation
(Hypothesis 2a and Hypothesis 2b) we use two measures: hours of volunteering per
month in the past 12 months, and the frequency of volunteering (none, occasionally,
monthly, or weekly).
To measure MTV students were asked to rate 14 possible reasons for doing vol-
unteer work on a scale from 1 (unimportant) to 5 (very important). The items were
chosen to reflect different dimensions of motivation to volunteer as recently used in
the literature (Hwang et al., 2005; Liao-Troth, 2005; Ziemek, 2006). To determine the
set of dimensions emerging from the combined data for the 12 countries, we con-
ducted a principal components analysis. The results reported here are based on a
principal components extraction with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization,
which does not allow the factors extracted to be inter-correlated.
The first component incorporates four items that clearly represent the value of
volunteering for résumé building and career-related motivations: to put it (volunteer-
ing) on the curriculum vitae (résumé) for admission to higher education; to put it on
the curriculum vitae (résumé) when applying for a job; to get a foot in the door at a
place where one wants to get paid employment; and to make new contacts that might
help a business career. The second component reflects altruistic and value-driven
reasons for volunteering based on the following five items: it is important to help
others; to work for a cause that is important; to learn more about the cause for which
one is volunteering; it gives one a new perspective; and it makes one feel better.3 The
third motivational component is referred to as social and ego-defensive reasons for
volunteering. It comprises the remaining five items: because friends volunteer; was
advised to do so (i.e., volunteer); influenced to volunteer by people close to them; it
relieves guilt over being more fortunate than others; and it is a good escape from
one’s own troubles.
We control for gender (1 = women; men treated as the reference category), age in
years, and household income (1 = high income class and 0 = middle or lower income
class). We excluded education as a variable as our cohort represents university stu-
dents who have graduated from high school but not university, hence belong to the
same category. In addition, we accounted for individuals’ personal value systems by
means of two additive scales: material values and nonmaterial values. We conducted
 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   507

principal components analysis to extract two components with varimax rotation and
Kaiser normalization. Individuals who score high on material values attach high
importance to making a lot of money; being successful in one’s studies or work;
living a happy, comfortable life; and being able to do what one wants. Those who
support nonmaterial values, by contrast, consider it more important to help people
in need; make the world a better place; and have a religious faith.
We also control for the student’s program of study (dummy variables for business
and all other programs; business is treated as the reference category), as we believe
that students in business programs are likely to be more competitive and career-
oriented than those in other programs including social sciences (Astin & Sax, 1998;
O’Brien, 1993). High schools and universities in some countries have volunteering
as a formal or recommended requirement for graduation. This provision not only
raises the awareness of volunteering among members of their cohort but also gives
them opportunities to volunteer, thereby raising their rates of participation (Sundeen
& Raskoff, 1994). Accordingly, control for volunteer requirements in high school
and university (1 = yes, 0 = no).

Heckman Selection Model and Ordered Logistic Regression Model

To examine our hypotheses we use a Heckman selection model and ordered
logistic regression model.4 To analyze Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 1b we use
probit analysis in the first stage of the Heckman selection model with participa-
tion in volunteering as the dependent variable. Our key independent variables are
the three dimensions of MTV and country differences. We control for individual
characteristics of students: age (A), gender (G), family income (I), personal val-
ues (V), program of study (P), and volunteer requirements in high school or
university (R). Thus we model volunteer participation V, a binary variable (1 =
yes and 0 = no), as

1. V (0, 1) = F [MTV, country effects, A, G, I, V, P, R-high school, R-university].

To analyze Hypothesis 2a and Hypothesis 2b, we use OLS regression analysis in

the second stage of the Heckman selection model and an ordered logistic regression
model; in these analyses, we use as our dependent variable the intensity of participa-
tion, as measured by the number of hours of volunteering and the frequency of
volunteering. In the second stage analysis (OLS regression) of the Heckman selec-
tion model correcting sample selection bias with Mills’ ratio estimate, we analyze
the number of hours volunteered as the dependent variable. Finally, employing the
ordered logistic regression model we analyze the frequency of volunteering, an ordi-
nal variable (degree of regularity), as the dependent variable. In each case, controlling
for the same variables (except for age) as we do in the probit model, we examine
508   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

MTV and country effects on the dependent variables. The rationale for dropping the
age variable in the OLS regression analysis and ordered logistic regression analysis
is based on the requirement for model identification in the Heckman selection model
and the limited variation of the age variable in predicting the intensity in our study
population (college undergraduate students). The final two models are

2. V (hours) = F [MTV, country effects, I, G, V, P, R-high school, R-university].

3. V (degree of regularity) = F [MTV, country effects, I, G, V, P, R-high school,
R-university].

Sample
In all, 9,482 students in 12 countries completed surveys with a minimum number
of 600 in each country; nearly 70% (69.2%) reported volunteering in the past 12
months. The sample consisted of more females (55.2%) than males (44.8%). However,
gender was significantly unequal across the 12 countries studied: in India, 62.5%
were male, whereas the majority was female in the United Kingdom (71.4%), Finland
(71.3%), and Canada (68.3%). Most students reported coming from the middle-
income group (68.2%), with 17.1% reporting coming from the high income group
and 14.7% from the low income group. The highest rates of students reporting their
family as high-income were found in the Netherlands (41.3%) and Israel (35.6%).
The highest rates of low-income families were reported in China (25.9%), Japan
(22.1%), and Finland and Israel (20.1% and 20.0%, respectively).
The mean age of the students was 22.2 years (median = 22.4 years), with two-
thirds (65%) of the students in the age group 18-22 years. Significant differences
in mean age were found across the 12 countries. In Israel the mean age was high-
est (26.1), due to 2 to 3 years of obligatory military service, followed by Finland
(24.6) and the United States (24.0). Belgium and Japan had the youngest mean age
(20 years).
Students came from diverse disciplines: 24.9% from social sciences, 13.4% from
natural sciences, 22.7% from business, 14.7% from humanities, 13.4% from engi-
neering, and 10.9% from other disciplines. The distribution across disciplines dif-
fered by country, with substantial over-representation of some disciplines in Japan
(79.9% from social sciences), the United Kingdom (45.5% from natural sciences),
and Finland (43.4% from humanities).
Just over half of the students (53.7%) were exposed to some form of institutional
service learning at their high school or university with volunteering or community
service either being compulsory or optional.. Students in Korea (81.0%), Israel
(80.0%), and India (75.5%) were most likely to have such exposure, and students in
China (9.9%), Croatia (15.5%), and Japan (18.0%) were least likely to experience
some form of service requirement.
 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   509

Findings

Volunteering and motivation to volunteer across countries

In Table 1 we present a descriptive analysis of the dependent variables by coun-
try. As we expect our utilitarian paradigm to apply most strongly in the North
American context, we use the United States and Canada as our key countries of
reference as these countries provide the strongest evidence of the value of volunteer-
ing as a signal among students (Katz & Rosenberg, 2005). Table 1 shows that with
respect to the rate of participation in volunteering, India (86.2%) and China (84.5%)
belong to the top tier, Canada (79.7%) and the United States (78.8%) belong to the
second tier, and Croatia (51.2%) and Japan (39.1%) fall into the lowest tier. Across
countries, Belgium, Canada, and the United States had the highest average number
of hours of volunteering per month (15.74, 15.58, and 11.26 hours per month on
average, respectively). In the United States, Finland, and the Netherlands, the high-
est percentage of students volunteered monthly (14.7%, 13.3%, and 12.5%, respec-
tively). Belgian, Canadian, and Israeli students most often reported volunteering on
a weekly basis (22.2%, 22.1%, and 19.2%, respectively).
The combined results for these volunteering features identify interesting patterns.
First, the countries that have the highest rates of volunteer participation (India and
China) are also the countries where students participate most frequently on an occa-
sional basis and invest the lowest average number of hours volunteering per month.
In these countries episodic volunteering is highly prevalent. Similarly, in India and
China, most volunteers on average reported contributing less than 2 hours per month.
By contrast, the most regular and time-consuming volunteering can be found in
Canada, the United States, and Belgium. In Canada, 8 out of 10 students reported
volunteering, investing an average of 15.6 hours per month, and participating most
frequently on a weekly basis. Although in Belgium slightly fewer students were
involved in volunteering, their intensity of participation was similar to that of Canadian
students. American students participated at similar rates as Canadian students but
invested slightly fewer hours on average and were more likely to participate on a
monthly basis. In spite of these nuances, these three countries distinguish themselves
from other countries by displaying high rates of volunteering and a high intensity of
involvement (i.e., a large number of hours and more frequent involvement).
In Table 2, we compared cross-nationally the importance of the three motiva-
tional dimensions, altruism, résumé, and social MTV. Across all countries, students
express the strongest support for altruistic and value-driven reasons for volunteering.
Résumé building motivations come second, and social and ego-defensive reasons for
volunteering are considered least important. Notwithstanding the similarity in these
general rankings, important country differences exist in the strength of these motives.
As we expected, the résumé building MTV scores are highest in Canada and the
United States as well as in England. “Résumé padding” is least important in Korea

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 510
Table 1
Participation in Volunteering, Hours of Volunteering and Frequency of Volunteering by Countries
Frequency of volunteering
Participation in Hours of
volunteering volunteering Not at all Occasionally Monthly Weekly

Country N (%) M (SD) N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%)

United States 1020 (78.8) 11.26 (45.42) 288 (22.4) 608 (47.3) 189 (14.7) 200 (15.6)
Canada   775 (79.7) 15.58 (59.01) 225 (23.4) 433 (45.0)   92   (9.6) 213 (22.1)
Belgium   636 (71.4) 15.74 (57.07) 271 (30.5) 357 (40.2)   63   (7.1) 197 (22.2)
China   777 (84.5)   2.44 (15.11) 113 (12.4) 644 (70.8)   94 (10.3)   59   (6.5)
Croatia   307 (51.2)   3.45 (18.34) 346 (57.7) 197 (32.8)   15   (2.5)   42   (7.0)
England   380 (63.3)   4.98 (24.80) 224 (37.5) 290 (48.6)   28   (4.7)   55   (9.2)
Finland   466 (70.1)   4.07 (11.63) 219 (33.2) 269 (40.8)   88 (13.3)   84 (12.7)
India   517 (86.2)   2.08   (5.34)   98 (16.3) 409 (68.2)   65 (10.8)   28   (4.7)
Israel   398 (67.5)   7.24 (22.30) 202 (34.3) 216 (36.7)   58   (9.8) 113 (19.2)
Japan   411 (39.1)   0.72   (4.10) 732 (69.9) 262 (25.0)   24   (2.3)   29   (2.8)
Korea   508 (73.0)   4.34 (16.42) 246 (35.5) 286 (41.3)   55   (7.9) 105 (15.2)
Netherlands   368 (61.1)   6.76 (19.47) 243 (40.6) 184 (30.8)   75 (12.5)   96 (16.1)

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   511

Table 2
Motivations to Volunteer by Country (Means Scores on 5-Point Scale)
Motivation

Altruism Resume Social

M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)

United States 4.03 (0.86) 3.67 (0.93) 3.16 (0.78)

Canada 4.04 (0.81) 3.83 (0.96) 3.05 (0.85)
Belgium 3.78 (0.51) 3.22 (0.84) 2.97 (0.55)
China 3.81 (0.58) 3.55 (0.67) 2.74 (0.72)
Croatia 4.10 (0.62) 3.29 (1.02) 2.38 (0.80)
England 3.94 (0.72) 3.67 (0.85) 2.79 (0.74)
Finland 4.17 (0.57) 3.03 (0.93) 2.73 (0.76)
Israel 4.03 (0.61) 3.22 (1.07) 2.99 (0.85)
India 3.82 (0.93) 3.29 (0.89) 3.07 (0.90)
Japan 3.82 (0.68) 3.03 (0.92) 2.47 (0.81)
Korea 3.65 (0.62) 2.70 (0.84) 2.91 (0.60)
Netherlands 3.81 (0.52) 3.39 (0.85) 2.94 (0.58)

and Finland. Altruistic and value-driven MTV are most important in Finland and
Croatia, followed by the United States, Canada, and Israel; this motive receives the
lowest support in Korea. Social and ego-defensive reasons are most prevalent in the
United States, India, and Canada and are least important in Croatia and Japan.

MTV and Participation in Volunteering

We hypothesized that students participate in volunteering to achieve outcomes
that help them build their résumés and advance their careers. We also proposed that
this relationship will hold most strongly in environments that value such volun-
teering experiences and see them as proxies for success in future employment and
learning. On the basis of these assumptions we formulated two hypotheses. First,
participation in volunteering will be higher if students are motivated by the résumé
building motive (Hypothesis 1a). Second, this effect will vary by country, with the
United States and Canada being the countries where the volunteering-as-investment
paradigm most strongly and explicitly prevails (Hypothesis 1b).
The results of the probit analysis shown in Table 3 do not support the hypothesis
that students who are more strongly motivated by résumé building motives have a
higher probability of participation in volunteering. Although the résumé building
motive attains statistical significance it has a negative impact rather than a positive
impact as hypothesized. Instead, altruistic MTV has a positive effect on the probabil-
ity of participation in volunteering with a high level of statistical significance. Social

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512   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Table 3
Probit Analysis of Participation in Volunteering—The
First Step in Heckman Selection Model
Coefficient SE p value

Motivation to volunteer
Resume -0.0813948 0.0165335 ***
Altruism 0.0988395 0.0166072 ***
Social -0.1172552 0.0165526 ***
Countries (ref = United States)
Belgium -0.161519 0.0677237 *
Canada 0.0049831 0.0692249 ns
China 0.4037255 0.0715459 ***
Croatia -0.9078035 0.0743274 ***
Finland -0.4675916 0.0765609 ***
India 0.053085 0.1054163 ns
Israel -0.5303797 0.0798712 ***
Japan -1.027619 0.0672781 ***
Korea -0.2549429 0.0747513 ***
Netherlands -0.4380052 0.072438 ***
United Kingdom -0.4818365 0.0784688 ***
Background characteristics
Age -0.0061779 0.0037414 ns
Gender 0.0157902 0.0320489 ns
Family income 0.1213484 0.0281142 ***
Program (ref = Business) -0.1746076 0.0375411 ***
Individual values
Material -0.07354 0.0164193 ***
Nonmaterial 0.1574626 0.0175303 ***
Service requirements
In high school 0.1191455 0.0390777 **
In university 0.2752176 0.0427672 ***
_cons 0.631903 0.1212628 .000
Mills lambda 12.73469 6.617925 .054
Rho 0.70168
Sigma 18.148741
Lambda 12.734695 6.617925

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

MTV is also statistically significant; but again in a negative direction. In sum, the
results of the probit analysis do not support the first hypothesis in this study.
To test the second hypothesis (Hypothesis 1b), we examine country effects on
participation in volunteering with the United States as a reference category, control-
ling for MTV and background variables. All countries show statistically significant
differences except for Canada and India. These two countries thus provide a similar
contextual effect for participation in volunteering as the United States. The direction
 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   513

of effects indicates that in comparison to the United States, students in China are
significantly more likely to participate in volunteering; these positive country influ-
ences indeed reflect the higher rates of participation we observed in these countries.
All other countries show a statistically significant negative effect. Thus, the proba-
bilities of participation in volunteering, in these countries are significantly lower than
in the United States. In sum, the results of the probit analysis support the assumption
that important cross-national differences in rates of student volunteering exist. The
findings also show that the United States and Canada produce similar country effects
on rates of volunteering and that a majority of other countries have a negative impact
when compared to the United States. These results support Hypothesis 1b; however,
India is also similar to the North-American countries, and China has a significant posi-
tive impact, thus suggesting the need for further study with respect to this hypothesis.
The results of the probit analysis also demonstrate that family income and the requi­
rement for volunteering in high school and university are statistically significant in
a positive direction. When students come from a higher-income family and are exposed
to some form of service requirement, the probabilities for participation in volunteer-
ing increase. As we anticipated, students in business programs have a significantly
lower probability of participation in volunteering in comparison to students in other
academic programs. Finally, students’ personal value systems also have an effect: the
stronger their support for nonmaterialistic values, the higher their likelihood of vol-
unteering. The effect of material values is negative: the stronger their support for mate-
rialistic values, the lower their likelihood of volunteering.

MTV and Intensity of Volunteering

Based on our utilitarian investment model, we expected not only differences in
the probability of participation but also in the intensity of volunteering. We hypoth-
esized that students motivated by résumé building motives are likely to engage for
fewer hours and particular assignments (episodic) just sufficient to enhance their
résumés (Hypothesis 2a), and again, that significant differences would be found
cross-nationally (Hypothesis 2b). Table 4 shows findings from the OLS regression
analysis (the second stage of the Heckman selection model) with hours of volunteer-
ing as the dependent variable. Table 5 reports results of the ordered logistic regres-
sion with frequency of volunteering as the dependent variable.
The results in Table 4 and Table 5 support the hypothesis that students who are
more strongly motivated by résumé building MTV have a lower intensity and regu-
larity of volunteering. Students who more strongly support résumé building MTV
participate less in volunteering, but if they do so, they are significantly more likely
to invest fewer hours and to volunteer in an episodic way. By contrast, students who
embrace altruistic MTV invest more hours and participate more frequently, and
these effects have high statistical significance. Support for social MTV is also sta-
tistically significant albeit with negative effects on both measures of intensity of

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514   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Table 4
OLS Regression Results For Hours of Volunteering per Month—The Second
Step in Heckman Selection Model
Coefficient SE p value

Motivation to volunteer
Resume -0.828138 0.3577239 *
Altruism 1.478026 0.4029654 ***
Social -1.686851 0.434903 ***
Countries (Ref = United States)
Belgium 2.164631 1.059672 *
Canada 1.06366 0.9611411 ns
China -4.499022 1.578796 **
Croatia -12.17645 3.279251 ***
Finland -8.518054 1.867819 ***
India -7.159495 1.318765 ***
Israel -3.238326 2.079404 ns
Japan -15.35996 3.855059 ***
Korea -4.960189 1.330824 ***
Netherlands -2.607123 1.768898 ns
United Kingdom -6.146754 1.907352 ***
Background characteristics
Gender 0.9152708 0.4962525 ns
Family income 1.030109 0.5843579 ns
Program (Ref = Business) -3.230599 0.8084478 ***
Individual values
Material -1.298161 0.346961 ***
Nonmaterial 1.693678 0.5617984 **
Service requirements
In high school -0.2847695 0.7204122 ns
In university 1.452676 1.037956 ns
_cons 2.339703 3.743431 .532

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

volunteering. In sum, the results of OLS regression analysis and ordered logistic
regression analysis support the third hypothesis (Hypothesis 2a). We also found that
high school and university exposure to required volunteer participation is significantly
related to volunteering regularly but not to the number of hours volunteered per month.
Comparing country effects on the intensity of volunteering (Hypothesis 2b), most
countries show statistically significant differences. With regard to the estimated number
of hours of volunteering per month, most countries differ significantly from the United
States, except for Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands. These three countries produce
similar contextual effects on students’ number of hours of volunteering as in the United
States. When the United States is used as a reference category and controlling for
other variables, Belgium is the only country that has a significantly greater positive
 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   515

Table 5
Ordered Logistic Regression of Frequency of Volunteering (None,
Occasionally, Monthly, Weekly)
Coefficient SE p value

Motivation to volunteer
Resume -.1206533 .0231294 ***
Altruism .1734136 .0231669 ***
Social -.2017991 .0225901 ***
Country (ref = United States)
Belgium 0.0243352 .0910638 ns
Canada 0.0726325 .0882171 ns
China 0.165158 .0862093 ns
Croatia -1.747988 .1082809 ***
Finland -0.7236631 .1041274 ***
India -0.5662574 .1146263 ***
Israel -0.5086273 .1070413 ***
Japan -1.998731 .0981957 ***
Korea -0.445404 .1006196 ***
Netherlands -0.3789245 .1034897 ***
United Kingdom -0.7088527 .1057338 ***
Background characteristics
Gender 0.0981409 .04403 *
Family income 0.1900554 .0393529 ***
Program business -0.3137958 .0520327 ***
Material -0.2123703 .0229129 ***
Nonmaterial 0.3082511 .0246404 ***
Service requirements
In high school 0.1324964 .0524919 *
In university 0.2639354 .0562586 ***
/cut1 -0.7846437 .1037221
/cut2 1.410885 .1045318
/cut3 2.062481 .1062412

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

impact on the number of hours of volunteering. All other country deviations from
the United States are in a negative direction. Thus the time devoted to volunteering
in these countries is lower than in the United States.
The analysis of country effects for students’ frequency of volunteering shows that
Canada, Belgium, and China do not differ statistically from the United States. All
other countries have a statistically significant negative effect; hence students in these
countries are more likely to volunteer episodically.
In sum, the results of OLS regression and ordered logistic regression analyses indi-
cate that, as expected, country context significantly affects students’ intensity of vol-
unteering. However, students in North America have a higher likelihood of participating
516   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

on a regular and more time-intensive basis, which is contrary to our fourth hypoth-
esis (Hypothesis 2b). A number of countries show similarities in varying ways.
Although students in Israel and the Netherlands are likely to volunteer less fre-
quently, they invest a similar amount of time. In Belgium and China, students vol-
unteer as frequently as those in the United States and Canada, but Belgian students
tend to spend more hours and Chinese students are likely to invest fewer hours.
The findings also indicate that family income has a statistically significant posi-
tive effect. Thus, students from higher-income families are more likely to spend
more hours volunteering and to participate more frequently. Volunteer requirements
in high school or university do not affect the number of hours devoted to volunteer-
ing, yet they exert a positive impact on the frequency of volunteering. By compari-
son to students in other programs, students in business have a lower intensity of
volunteering. Finally, both material and nonmaterial values are statistically signifi-
cant in predicting the intensity of volunteering. Students supporting material values
participate on a less intensive basis, whereas students who embrace nonmaterial values
invest more hours and participate more frequently.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of our empirical analysis reveal that not only is our first hypothesis
on résumé building MTV as a positive predictor of student volunteer participation
not supported, but also résumé building MTV has a statistically significant negative
impact as indicated in Table 3. Instead, altruistic MTV has a positive effect on the
probability of participation in volunteering with high statistical significance. This
finding does not support our hypotheses about the expected impact of résumé build-
ing MTV or the overall influence of the “investment model.” However, when we add
to this finding the fact that results from Table 4 and Table 5 support the thesis that
students who are more strongly motivated by résumé building MTV reported volun-
teering less frequently and investing fewer hours in volunteering, some intriguing
explanations arise.
There can be various explanations to our findings. First, volunteering is not the
result of one aspect of MTV alone. People who volunteer often do so because of a
comprehensive set of interrelated motives (Cnaan & Goldberg-Glen, 1991). Those
who are mostly motivated by résumé building MTV may in turn be less interested
in volunteering as compared to students motivated by all three dimensions of MTV.
If one is primarily motivated to enhance his or her future career, it is likely that this
individual lacks other motives and is thus less likely to volunteer. Indeed, résumé
building MTV may help increase one’s chances of volunteering, but it is neither nec-
essary nor sufficient MTV to volunteer, as significant personal costs must be weighed
against the probability that such activity would favorably influence an employer or
university admission officer. Yet if one were also motivated to make friends (a social

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   517

MTV), and enjoyed helping others (an altruistic MTV), the benefits would increase
so that the student may be more likely to accept the costs of volunteering and hence
participate.
Second, students were asked to report why they volunteer, that is, whether they
agreed or disagreed with each one of a listing of possible reasons that might motivate
them to volunteer. In all countries, students agreed more strongly with altruistic
reasons as their motivations to volunteer than any other motivations. Although they
did not reject the other motivations, résumé and social MTV, they ranked second to
altruistic MTV. This finding is telling, for it explains what students most commonly
believe about volunteer activity: it is to help others at a personal cost to themselves,
so that they respond strongly to altruistic MTV. Indeed, this finding conforms to the
net-cost theory of volunteering wherein individuals perceive volunteers as those
who undertake an activity at net cost to themselves, despite certain private benefits
they may realize along the way (Handy et al., 2000). Although students in our sam-
ple do not reject résumé or social MTV, these MTV are overshadowed by altruistic
MTV. Notwithstanding that they receive private benefits (résumé, social), students
see that they give their labor at some cost to themselves, and hence regard their vol-
unteering as an altruistically motivated activity.
Third, another possible explanation for the lack of support for the individual “invest-
ment model” may be social desirability. Most students find it difficult and embar-
rassing to admit that they are volunteering only to enhance their private benefits. It
is socially accepted that volunteering is an altruistic behavior, and that private ben-
efits to the volunteer are inappropriate. It is possible that many students, who may
have strong self-serving motives (résumé building or social), over-emphasize their
altruistic MTV along with downgrading their résumé building and social MTV. This
possibility calls for future studies in this area to incorporate measures of social desir-
ability and/or to supplement surveys with open-ended interviews to probe self-serving
motives. Such advice may prove equally fruitful for studies of MTV among other
population groups.
Fourth, because our data are cross-sectional, we cannot determine what first moti-
vated students to volunteer, and if MTV changed over the course of volunteering. It
may be likely that résumé building MTV has a strong impact on the initial decision
to volunteer, but once students get involved they learn about other meanings and
values of volunteering through their experience. Although the initial MTV may have
been more exclusively focused on private benefits (for example, building their résumé
or making friends), once the students became involved they gradually developed
different insights and explanations for continuing to volunteer. To explore change or
motivation in MTV calls for a longitudinal research design.
Another methodological issue may be related to the fact that we found lower rates
of volunteering among students highly motivated by instrumental MTV. We inquired
about participation in volunteering only over the 12 months immediately preceding
the survey. As a result, we cannot exclude the possibility of a higher incidence of

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518   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

volunteering activities among instrumentally motivated students though over a longer

period of reference. Given that we found résumé building MTV to be positively
associated with more episodic involvement, the likelihood of reporting any type of
volunteering in the past 12 months is lower than that for regular (ongoing) volun-
teers. In addition, because at the time of the survey many respondents were not fac-
ing a job search or admission into graduate school (especially those in the early years
at university), they had no immediate instrumental benefit to participating in volun-
teering, a situation that further explains why instrumentally oriented students reported
lower rates of volunteering in the preceding 12 months.
Finally, it may be that our population of university students was too homogeneous
to find pronounced differences in the effect of résumé building MTV. Other studies
have established that the effect of instrumental MTV on volunteering is stronger for
youth, especially college students, in comparison to older age cohorts (Hall et al., 2006;
Sax, 2004). A comparison of our sample with young people outside university and/
or in other stages of the life course may provide stronger support for our hypothesis.
In addition to the hypothesized impact of individual MTV on the rate and nature
of volunteering, we also expected the value of volunteering to be culturally rooted and
country specific. We predicted the influence of utilitarian MTV to be particularly
strong in the North American countries, where it is an accepted norm. We indeed
find that the United States and Canada provide a highly similar context for volun-
teering in this respect; no differences in country effects between the United States
and Canada are observed on any of the dependent variables (rate, hours, and frequency
of volunteering).
Assuming that the signaling value of volunteering is strongest in the North-
American context, our findings show an opposite effect of the utilitarian value of
volunteering at the macro and the micro levels. This result may intimate that the
association between résumé building MTV and actual volunteering is not at the
individual level but at the societal level. In the analysis students responding high on
résumé building MTV participate less in volunteering. However, in countries, such as
in North America where résumé building is a normative expectation, large number of
students—even if they are unaware of it or loathe to admit it—respond with high
rates of volunteering. Given that North American students also participate on a more
intensive basis, with more frequent involvement and longer hours of volunteering,
our findings would suggest—contrary to our theoretical assumptions—that regular
volunteering is a more credible signal of volunteering than is episodic volunteering,
which is a less costly engagement. It is possible that those reading the résumés are
more savvy and are looking for more intensive volunteering.
India and China, the two emerging economies, showed comparable or higher rates
of volunteering as North America. These countries, more than the other countries in
the study, are culturally more influenced by the United States, and students there
often aspire to come to study or work in the United States. Thus, it is not surprising
that they learn the norms and value of volunteering.

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   519

However, three other countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Israel, in which
the signaling value of volunteering is supposed to be weak, showed similar effects
on the intensity of volunteering as the North American countries. Given this finding,
it seems that at the country level a more complex set of dynamics is at play, which
affects various aspects of volunteering differently in different contexts. Presumably,
the country effects observed are not attributable solely to the utilitarian value of vol-
unteering for university students, but perhaps more importantly to the broader social
and cultural origins of the nonprofit sector in these countries (Salamon & Anheier,
1998). In this respect, the relationship between MTV and differences in welfare regimes
that was demonstrated in earlier research (Hwang et al., 2005; Ziemek, 2006) might
offer a more adequate explanation.
In addition, the effects of MTV and country differences, the finding that the exist-
ence of required volunteering in either high school or university has a positive effect on
participation in volunteering and in volunteer regularity, but not on hours volunteered
begs for special discussion. It is likely that either service requirements could have a
positive effect on students’ propensity to volunteer, or that students report a higher rate
of volunteering because they also consider service requirements as volunteering.
Our hypotheses were derived from the micro-economic model emphasizing the
importance of the (résumé) investment motive for volunteering, and the returns to this
investment. Although studies show that such benefits exist, they do not ask whether
volunteers also get a return on the social and altruistic MTV, and whether these latter
benefits are more important to the volunteer as compared to the returns to their résumé
MTV. Our findings suggest that students are more influenced by the benefits of
the altruistic and social MTV than the benefits of resume building MTV, which we
have argued may lead to a better job, a higher wage or admission into a particular uni-
versity or program. Furthermore, as Cnaan and Goldberg-Glen (1991) noted, the com-
bination of MTV is the stronger predictor of volunteering rather than its various parts.
At this writing, cross-national studies of volunteering have not used MTV to
predict differences in volunteer participation or in its intensity. As a point of depar-
ture to examine the impact of the investment model, we propose that research focus
on the decision to volunteer, i.e., what actually triggers individuals to take the initial
step to participate. In addition, the complexity of our findings calls for more system-
atic research to disentangle the multiple individual and contextual effects on the
nature of volunteering. Existing research has looked at differences in rates of volun-
teering, however, it has not yet taken up the challenge of explaining cross-culturally
the multidimensional nature of volunteering, that is, the highly diverging interactions
between rates and intensity of volunteering. The present research is but a first step
in this ambitious research agenda.

Notes
1. It may be argued that these motives are utilitarian as well because they serve a purpose to further
the volunteer’s social position and/or meet his or her social needs.

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520   Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

2. In our instrument we ask only about volunteering in formal organizations. Sorting capability based
on individuals’ volunteer experiences requires that it should be verifiable that what an individual claims
is indeed done. This realization makes formal volunteering through organizations a better signal than
informal volunteering. In the questionnaire we defined volunteer experiences as “giving freely of your
time to help others through organizations” and presented a list of eight types of organizations (religious
organizations, human service organizations, sport or cultural organizations, community organizations,
student clubs or other university organizations, neighborhood organizations, local activist groups, and
youth organizations) and one generic volunteer activity (on-line volunteering).
3. Although this motive can be interpreted as an ego motive, we believe that it is more a value-driven
motive as interpreted in our survey, given its factor loading with other items on altruism and values. It is
reasonable to infer that volunteering will only make a person feel better if he or she values helping others.
4. The Heckman selection model or Heckman correction (Heckman, 1979) is a two-stage method to
correct for selection bias in samples in which the dependent variable is only observed for a restricted,
non-random sample. In this study, we examine participation in volunteering—our dependent variable—
and a considerable part of the student population does not take part. Given that the decision to volunteer
was made by the individual students, those who choose to volunteer constitute a self-selected sample
rather than a random sample. And thus, estimating the determinants of participation from the subpopula-
tion who choose to volunteer may introduce bias and lead to erroneous conclusions. Indeed, by running
an OLS regression we would automatically exclude students who have zero hours of volunteering, that
is, we remove students who did not volunteer with the same condition (age, gender, etc.). The Heckman
selection model is a two-step statistical approach that corrects for nonrandomly selected samples by
estimating the self-selection decision by using the independent conditions with inclusion of all students.
Thus, Heckman’s solution adds a “decision equation” to the “outcome equation.” First, we formulate a
model for the probability of volunteering (a probit regression). In the second stage, we correct for self-
selection by including a transformation of the predicted individual probabilities as an additional explana-
tory variable (OLS regression). In the tables we report the unstandardized coefficients of the probit model
(Step 1) and the OLS model (Step 2).

Acknowledgment
In addition to the data collected by the coauthors, we are grateful to students Iris
Hui Xiao, Wang Ying, and Yongsheng Zhuang, who helped with the data collection
in Beijing, China.

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Femida Handy is a professor at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of
Pennsylvania, United States.

Lesley Hustinx is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation—Flanders at the Centre for Sociological
Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

Chulhee Kang is professor at the Yonsei University Graduate School of Social Welfare in Seoul, South
Korea.

Ram A. Cnaan is professor and associate dean at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University
of Pennsylvania, United States.

Jeffrey L. Brudney is the Albert A. Levin Chair of Urban Studies and Public Service at the Maxine
Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.

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 Handy et al. / A Cross-Cultural Examination of Student Volunteering   523

Debbie Haski-Leventhal is a NAB research fellow in the Australian School of Business at the University
of New South Wales, Australia.

Kirsten Holmes is research fellow at the School of Management at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.

Lucas C. P. M. Meijs is professor of volunteering, civil society and business at the Rotterdam School of
Management at Erasmus University, Netherlands.

Anne Birgitta Pessi is an adjunct professor and academy research fellow at the Collegium for Advanced
Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Bhagyashree Ranade is the founder and managing trustee of the Institute for Women Entrepreneurial
Development in Pune, India

Naoto Yamauchi is professor of public economics at Osaka School of International Public Policy at
Osaka University, Japan.

Sinisa Zrinscak is professor of social policy and head of department for social work at the University of
Zagreb, Croatia.

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