Does Religious Belief Affect Volunteering and Donating Behavior of Chinese College Students?

Limited research has been conducted in mainland China to explore the relationship between religious belief and prosocial behaviors such as volunteering and charitable donation. This study aims to investigate whether and how religious belief affects Chinese college students’ charitable giving and vol...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fuman Xie, Yung-pin Lu, Yongfu Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/8/403
Description
Summary:Limited research has been conducted in mainland China to explore the relationship between religious belief and prosocial behaviors such as volunteering and charitable donation. This study aims to investigate whether and how religious belief affects Chinese college students’ charitable giving and volunteering. Based on a survey of 1992 college students from five universities in Shanghai, the authors found that religious belief has a positive influence on charitable giving. Moral norms and family income level are also significant influencing factors in college students’ donation behavior. Religious belief does not affect volunteering frequency. Instead, volunteering intensity is affected by political status, social norms exerted by friends and families and volunteering motivations.
ISSN:2077-1444