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ORI GIN AL PA PER
Religious and Secular Voluntary Participationby Immigrants in Canada: How Trust and SocialNetworks Affect Decision to Participate
Lili Wang • Femida Handy
� International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2013
Abstract Participation in voluntary associations is an important part of an
immigrant’s integration into a host country. This study examines factors that pre-
dispose an immigrant’s voluntary involvement in religious and secular organiza-
tions compared to non-immigrants (‘‘natives’’) in Canada, and how immigrants
differ from natives in their voluntary participation. The study results indicate that
informal social networks, religious attendance, and level of education positively
correlate with the propensity of both immigrants and natives to participate and
volunteer in religious and secular organizations. Immigrants who have diverse
bridging social networks, speak French and/or English at home, and either attend
school or are retired are more likely to participate and volunteer for secular orga-
nizations. Further, social trust matters to native Canadians in their decision to
engage in religious and secular organizations but not to immigrants. Pride and a
sense of belonging, marital status, and the number of children increase the likeli-
hood of secular voluntary participation of natives but not of immigrants. These
findings extend the current understanding of immigrant integration and have
important implications for volunteer recruitment.
Resume La participation aux associations benevoles represente un element
important de l’integration d’un immigrant au sein d’un pays d’accueil. Cette etude
examine les facteurs predisposant l’engagement benevole d’un immigrant en faveur
d’organisations religieuses et laıques, par comparaison aux non-immigrants. Au
Canada, si l’on se reporte aux donnees issues de l’Enquete canadienne Egalite,
L. Wang (&)
School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave.,
Suite 550, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
F. Handy
School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 3701 Locust Walk, Philadelphia,
PA 19104-6214, USA
123
Voluntas
DOI 10.1007/s11266-013-9428-8
Securite et Communaute, les resultats indiquent que les reseaux sociaux informels,
la pratique religieuse et l’education contribuent a accroıtre la propension des
immigrants comme des ressortissants a participer a une action benevole en faveur
des organisations religieuses et laıques. Les immigrants dont les reseaux sociaux
sont favorables a la diversite, qui pratiquent le francais et/ou l’anglais au sein de leur
foyer, suivent des etudes ou sont retraites sont plus susceptibles de faire du
benevolat pour les organisations laıques. La confiance sociale est un point important
pour les ressortissants canadiens quant a leur decision de participer a des actions
benevoles religieuses ou laıques, mais il n’en est pas ainsi pour les immigrants. La
fierte/le sentiment d’appartenance, la situation familiale et le nombre d’enfants
rendent plus vraisemblable pour les ressortissants et non pas pour les immigrants, le
fait de participer a un benevolat laıque. Les conclusions permettent d’elargir la
connaissance actuelle de l’integration des immigrants et presentent des implications
importantes pour le recrutement des benevoles.
Zusammenfassung Die Mitwirkung in gemeinnutzigen Vereinigungen ist ein
wichtiger Bestandteil der Integration von Einwanderern im Gastland. Diese Studie
untersucht die pradisponierenden Faktoren fur eine ehrenamtliche Tatigkeit von
Einwanderern bei religiosen und sakularen Organisationen gegenuber Nichtein-
wanderern in Kanada und stutzt sich dabei auf die Daten der kanadischen Umfrage
zu Gleichheit, Sicherheit und Gemeinschaft (Equality, Security and Community
Survey). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass informelle soziale Netzwerke, die Teilnahme
an religiosen Veranstaltungen und die Bildung Faktoren sind, die die Ber-
eitwilligkeit zur ehrenamtlichen Arbeit bei religiosen und sakularen Organisationen
sowohl bei Einwanderern als auch Einheimischen erhohen. Einwanderer mit div-
ersen uberbruckenden sozialen Netzwerken, die zu Hause Franzosisch oder Eng-
lisch sprechen, eine Schule besuchen oder in Rente sind, uben mit hoherer
Wahrscheinlichkeit eine ehrenamtliche Tatigkeit bei sakularen Organisationen aus.
Soziales Vertrauen ist fur geburtige Kanadier bei ihrer Entscheidung zur Ausubung
einer ehrenamtlichen Tatigkeit bei religiosen und sakularen Organisationen wichtig,
nicht jedoch fur Einwanderer. Stolz und ein Gefuhl der Zugehorigkeit, der Fami-
lienstand und die Anzahl von Kindern erhohen die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass
geburtige Kanadier, nicht jedoch Einwanderer, eine ehrenamtliche Tatigkeit bei
sakularen Organisationen ausuben. Die Ergebnisse erweitern das gegenwartige
Verstandnis der Einwandererintegration und haben wichtige Implikationen fur die
Anwerbung ehrenamtlicher Mitarbeiter.
Resumen La participacion en asociaciones voluntarias es una parte importante de
la integracion de los inmigrantes en el paıs anfitrion. El presente estudio examina los
factores que predisponen a la implicacion voluntaria de un inmigrante en organiz-
aciones religiosas y seculares, en comparacion a los no inmigrantes, en Canada,
utilizando datos de la Encuesta sobre Igualdad, Seguridad y Comunidad. Los re-
sultados muestran que las redes sociales informales, la asistencia a actos religiosos,
y la educacion aumentan la propension tanto de los inmigrantes como de los ori-
undos a participar como voluntarios en organizaciones religiosas y seculares. Los
inmigrantes con redes sociales puente diversas, que hablan frances y/o ingles en
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casa, que asisten a la escuela o jubilados son mas propensos a participar como
voluntarios en organizaciones seculares. La confianza social importa a los canadi-
enses oriundos cuando deciden implicarse en voluntariado religioso y secular, pero
no a los inmigrantes. El orgullo/el sentido de pertenencia, el estado civil y el numero
de hijos aumenta la probabilidad de que los oriundos hagan voluntariado secular,
pero no los inmigrantes. Los hallazgos amplıan la comprension actual de la inte-
gracion de los inmigrantes y tiene importantes implicaciones para el reclutamiento
de voluntarios.
Keywords Immigrants � Trust � Social networks � Voluntary participation �Religious and secular organizations
Voluntary participation1 is an important civic tradition of a democratic society. For
countries that welcome immigrants and wish to maintain this tradition, acculturating
newcomers to carry on this tradition may pose a challenge. Understanding factors
that predispose immigrants and natives toward voluntary participation is useful to
policy-makers and nonprofit organizations in developing a nurturing environment
conducive for newcomer civic engagement.
Canada has welcomed immigrants for decades. The influx of immigration since
the 1970s has made Canada increasingly diverse in ethnicity, culture, religion, and
language. As of 2006, 19 % of the population was foreign born (Chui et al. 2007),
one of the highest percentages among the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development nations. Consequently, Canadians face the challenge of respecting
cultural differences while fostering shared citizenship and integration as they
eschew the ‘‘melting pot’’ approach that seeks assimilation (CIC: Citizenship and
Immigration Canada 2010). Instead, Canada’s official policies encourage immi-
grants to retain their cultural heritage, embracing multiculturalism as a defining
feature of civic life, and seek to facilitate the integration of all newcomers and their
descendants (Kunz and Sykes 2007). Integration and multiculturalism, which are
seemingly opposite trends, coexist as government policies envision immigrants as
active participants in Canada’s social, cultural, economic, and political affairs
(Canadian Multiculturalism Act 1988).
Different viewpoints exist for understanding the nature of immigrant integration in a
host country. One perspective is that integration is a form of social inclusion, where
immigrants are not excluded from the daily fabric of life as compared to the natives
(Caidi and Allard 2005). Others view integration as civic, social, and political
engagement (Handy and Greenspan 2009). Several factors have been found to impede or
accelerate an immigrant’s integration into his/her host county, such as language fluency,
family ties (Alesina and Giuliano 2009), voluntary participation in religious congre-
gations (Sinha et al. 2009), and access to information (Caidi and Allard 2005).
Studies of immigrant voluntarism in other countries (i.e., Australia and the US)
have found that immigrants are less likely to volunteer than natives (Brown et al.
1 Voluntary participation refers to involvement with and volunteering through formal organizations and
not informal help such as helping neighbors or a stranger on a personal level.
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2003; Sundeen et al. 2007). Some studies show that language might be a barrier for
immigrants to participate in voluntary organizations (Brown et al. 2003; Dudley
2007), while others find that immigrants living longer in the host country with
higher education, higher religious attendance, and better health, are more likely to
get involved (Handy and Greenspan 2009). A few studies have compared
immigrants’ and non-immigrants’ voluntarism in Canada (Hall et al. 2009; Thomas
2012). For example, Hall et al. (2009) found that immigrants in Canada were less
likely than natives to volunteer (40 vs. 49 %), but they were more likely to
volunteer for religious organizations (13 vs. 10 %). However, it is unclear what
influenced the voluntary participation decision. Given the differences in the
socioeconomic characteristics between immigrants and natives, it would be
interesting to examine whether the factors associated with immigrants’ voluntary
participation differed from those of natives.
Recent studies find that trust and social networks are closely related to an
individual’s decision to volunteer (Bekkers and Bowman 2009; Brown and Ferris
2007). It is unclear whether these findings apply to immigrants or resonate
predominantly among natives who may have very different levels of trust and social
networks. Prior research also suggests that religious and secular voluntary
participation is likely to be influenced by different factors. For example, numerous
studies have tested whether religiosity influences secular volunteering. Among the
findings are that religious conservatives are less likely to engage in secular
volunteering (Wilson and Janoski 1995), and that religious Americans are more
likely to volunteer for secular causes (Uslaner 2002); others find no such differences
between secular and religious volunteer choices (Becker and Dhingra 2001). The
different findings relating to religious and secular volunteering suggest it is
necessary to study these two types of voluntary participations separately, and raises
the question as to whether the differences observed in the general population also
apply to immigrants’ religious and secular participation.
Carabain and Bekkers’ (2011) study comparing religious and secular volunteer-
ing between immigrants and natives found that native Dutch were more likely to
volunteer for secular organizations and less likely to engage in religious
volunteering compared to guest workers and other immigrants to the Netherlands.
Additionally, various resources and the level of religiosity appeared to affect the
likelihood of religious and secular volunteering differently among immigrants and
natives. However, Carabain and Bekkers did not consider the influence of trust,
networks, attachment and sense of belonging. In the present study, we argue that
these factors influence immigrants and natives differently depending on where they
choose to participate and volunteer. In addition, the cultural backgrounds of
immigrants in the Netherlands (i.e., the majority of guest workers from Turkey and
Morocco are Muslims) and their relatively strict immigration/integration policies
may be different from that of other countries, such as Canada.
Nonprofit organizations in Canada, both religious and secular, provide ample
opportunities for voluntary participation, as more than half of the over 165,000
nonprofits are run entirely by volunteers (Imagine Canada 2012). To help
newcomers to integrate in society, Canadian government suggests to immigrants
that ‘‘Donating your time and your skills is one of the best ways to get to know your
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community better and gain experience that will be useful as you look for a full-time
job’’ (Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, n.d., p. 36). Although there are
no mandatory volunteering requirements for immigrants, there are many resources
that the Canadian government makes available to help immigrants find opportunities
to get involved. These government initiatives are also open to the general public.
Given this context, the focus of this paper is to identify specific factors associated
with immigrants’ decisions to participate in voluntary associations in Canada, which
may be indicative of their ‘‘integration’’ into the culture of the host country. This
study investigates variables previously not considered in researching the differences
between immigrant and native voluntary participation, such as levels of social trust,
trust in local governments, social networks, and pride/sense of belonging. In doing
so, we extend the literature by examining the nature of immigrants’ voluntary
participation (religious vs. secular) in Canada.
The two primary questions guiding this study are: (1) to what extent do
immigrants and Canadian natives differ in their likelihood of religious and secular
voluntary participation, and (2) to what extent can we explain differences in the
likelihood of religious and secular voluntary participation between immigrants and
Canadian natives by their levels of trust, social networks, community attachment,
pride/sense of belonging, religiosity, and other socio-demographic characteristics.
We develop our theoretical framework and hypotheses in the next section, followed
by a description of our sample and methods. We then report the results and conclude
with a discussion of the study’s theoretical and practical implications.
Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses
Recent social capital literature indicates that an individual’s levels of trust and
social networks affect their likelihood to volunteer (Putnam 2000; Brown and Ferris
2007). Acculturation theory suggests that language fluency, sense of belonging, and
community attachment influence immigrants’ voluntary participation (Ashton et al.
2006; Rotolo et al. 2010; Sundeen et al. 2007). Individuals’ voluntary participation
is also perceived as a function of various resources available to them, such as human
capital, social resources, and cultural resources (Wiepking and Maas 2009; Wilson
2000; Wilson and Musick 1997). In this section, we integrate these theories and
develop hypotheses regarding differences in the likelihood of religious and secular
voluntary participation between immigrants and natives, using the following factors:
social trust and trust in government, social networks, community attachment, pride/
sense of belonging, language proficiency, religiosity, and other individual socio-
demographic characteristics.
Social Trust and Trust in Government
Putnam (2000) argues that social trust is an asset intricately linked with
participation in organizational settings. Several cross-sectional studies have found
positive associations between trust and membership in voluntary organizations or
volunteering. Brown and Ferris (2007) found that an individual’s trust in others and
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in their community are important determinants of volunteering in the US. Delhey
and Newton (2003) found that membership in voluntary organizations is associated
with trust in Switzerland, Germany, and Hungary. In an attempt to understand the
causal association between trust and volunteering, Bekkers and Bowman (2009)
found that generalized trust influences individuals’ decisions to start and quit
volunteering.
The relationship between trust and volunteering is far from straightforward. In a
comparative study of volunteering in Canada and the US, Uslaner (2002) found that
generalized trust was moderately associated with increases of volunteering in the
US, but was insignificant in Anglophone, Canada, and actually lowered the
likelihood of secular volunteering in Francophone, Quebec. While Uslaner studied
all Canadians and distinguished them by their Anglo or French roots, in the present
study, we examine whether levels of trust are positively associated with immigrants’
religious and secular voluntary participation in Canada, and to what extent trust
explains the differences in the likelihood of religious and secular voluntary
participation between immigrants and natives.
The literature on the relationship between trust and immigrants’ voluntary
participation is limited. Uslaner and Conley (2003) examined Chinese immigrants’
civic participation patterns in the US by their levels of generalized trust (trust shown
to strangers) and particularized trust (trust shown to people with same ethnic and
cultural background), finding that generalized trust was more likely to predict
willingness to participate in civic activities in the larger society, whereas
particularized trust was associated with willingness to participate only in ethnic
organizations, or not at all. Since, the findings of Uslaner (2002) suggest that the
relationship between generalized trust and volunteering may differ between
countries, it would be interesting to examine whether the observed association
between generalized trust and Chinese immigrants’ voluntary participation in the
US applies to immigrants in Canada.
In principle, trusting individuals (those who believe strangers can be trusted),
whether immigrants or natives, may feel more comfortable interacting with others
and more likely to participate in voluntary associations. Moreover, the influence of
trust on the likelihood of voluntary participation may be more salient in secular
organizations than in religious organizations as the former tend to be more
heterogeneous. Immigrants may have lower levels of social trust than natives, as
they are less familiar with the new environment, and may be more inclined to
participate in and volunteer for their own religious organizations where they find it
easier to trust people.
In addition to social trust, trust in government might also be associated with an
individual’s involvement in voluntary associations. Brooks and Lewis (2001) argue
that in the US, people with less confidence in the executive branch of the federal
government are more likely to volunteer time to both religious and secular
organizations than those with greater confidence. Alternatively, Brehm and Rahn
(1997) maintain that higher confidence in government predicts higher civic
participation. In the case of immigrants who intentionally choose to relocate to a
host country, having some degree of trust in government may positively influence
their decision to volunteer.
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Based on the literature, we hypothesize:
H1a Immigrants, as compared to natives, will be less likely to participate in
voluntary associations.
H1b Immigrants, as compared to natives, will be more likely to engage in religious
voluntary participation and less likely to engage in secular voluntary participation.
H2 Social trust will be positively associated with voluntary participation, with the
results more pronounced for natives and secular voluntary participation.
H3 Trust in government will be negatively associated with both religious and
secular voluntary participation, with the results more pronounced for natives than
immigrants.
Social Networks
An individual’s informal social networks include family and friendship ties. The
question is whether strong family and friendship ties in the host country impede or
promote immigrants’ engagement with voluntary organizations. Several studies
have found positive associations between voluntary participation and informal
networks. For example, Wilson and Musick (1997) found that informal networks
were positively associated with both formal volunteering and informal helping.
Becker and Dhingra (2001) found that family ties were the most important conduit
to volunteering. Approximately three-quarters of the volunteers they interviewed
volunteered because of their informal networks—with either someone who worked
for, or benefited from, the organization. Stern and Fullerton’s study (2009) further
showed that family and friend networks tended to have different influences on
volunteering, and the influence of friend networks was more pronounced. While
these findings may be true of native-born individuals, it may not apply to
immigrants.
Informal ties for immigrants are often restricted to their own community (Yan
and Lauer 2008) resulting in solicitation for voluntary participation that is likely to
be contained within their community (such as with ethnic religious organizations).
Alternatively, for natives, such informal ties may be more diverse and promote both
secular and religious volunteering (Carabain and Bekkers 2011). For example, many
religious congregations are ethnically segregated (Cnaan and Curtis 2013); and one
study found that for many immigrants, the primary source of their volunteering was
within their congregations (Handy and Greenspan 2009).
Informal social networks may render the need to broker further social relations
null and void. Granovetter (1973) argues that strong (family) ties may limit new
information and it is the ‘‘weak ties’’ with people who are outside of the circle of
family and close friends that may provide access to resources and information.
Immigrants with fewer informal social networks may seek out other social networks
outside of their family by joining voluntary organizations (Alesina and Giuliano
2009; Granovetter 1983).
Several studies have suggested that immigrants are motivated to volunteer to
make up for lost social networks due to emigration, and seek these ties among their
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own ethnic religious communities (Handy and Greenspan 2009). It is the informal
social ties that provide them with information regarding voluntary associations and
opportunities to volunteer. Given the ubiquity of volunteering in Canada, we are
persuaded that immigrants’ informal social networks may include people who are
likely to volunteer, and this exposure to volunteers will give rise to opportunities for
immigrants to participate. In addition, diverse and extended bridging social
networks beyond family and friends also increase engagement in multiple
organizations through the likelihood of being asked to get involved by individuals
who are in different social networks.
We hypothesize:
H4 Informal social networks will be positively associated with voluntary
participation among immigrants as well as natives and this result is more
pronounced for immigrants and in religious voluntary participation.
H5 Bridging social networks will be positively associated with voluntary
participation among immigrants and natives and this result will be more pronounced
for secular voluntary participation.
Community Attachment, Pride/Sense of Belonging
Community attachment and sense of belonging have been identified as important
factors that influence an individual’s participation in voluntary organizations
(Chavis and Wandersman 1990; Coulthard et al. 2002; Perkins et al. 1996). A
common indicator of community attachment is the length of residency in a
geographic community. Long-term residents are found to be more civically engaged
than those who have recently arrived (Coulthard et al. 2002; Perkins et al. 1996;
Rotolo et al. 2010). This is partly due to the fact that it takes time for people to know
their neighborhood, learn about volunteering opportunities, and join voluntary
associations within the community. Additionally, long-term residents have more of
a stake in the safety and quality of life in the community; therefore, they are more
likely to invest time and effort to help improve their communities. Furthermore,
developing a sense of belonging is critical to an immigrant’s willingness to actively
engage with organizations (Ashton et al. 2006). If immigrants identify themselves as
part of a community or a country, and are proud to be part of the community or the
country, they are more likely to interact and collaborate with members of that
community for a common good through volunteering.
We hypothesize:
H6 Community attachment and the pride/sense of belonging in the country will be
positively associated with voluntary participation and this result will be more
pronounced for immigrants and secular voluntary participation.
Language Proficiency
One significant aspect of acculturation for an immigrant is being able to speak the
language of the host country, and this has been found to be a salient factor
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explaining immigrant participation in the United States and other western countries
(Brown et al. 2003; Sundeen et al. 2007). Similarly, in Canada we expect language
proficiency (English or French) to stimulate voluntary participation. Language
barriers generally limit an immigrant’s opportunity of being asked to volunteer,
their capacity to volunteer, and the types of voluntary associations with which they
can engage (Dudley 2007). Vaillancourt (1994), for example, finds that Canadians
who speak languages other than English and French participate less in volunteer
work. Immigrants who speak their native languages at home may be more
comfortable participating in ethnically homogenous religious organizations, but less
so in more diverse secular organizations. Furthermore, immigrants who came to
Canada as children may gain language proficiency through their education at school.
However, those who continue to speak their native language at home may continue
to be influenced more by their native culture, and less likely to seek out secular
organizations than those who speak English or French only.
We hypothesize:
H7 Speaking English or French at home will be positively associated with secular
voluntary participation for immigrants.
Religiosity
Religiosity is one of the most significant facilitators of volunteering (Cnaan et al.
1993; Musick et al. 2000). Religious affiliation and self-perceived religiosity have
been found to significantly influence volunteering among Canadians (Berger 2006).
New immigrants to Canada exhibit higher levels of religiosity as compared to their
Canadian-born counterparts (Statistics Canada 2003). In a survey conducted in
2000, 35 % of immigrants to Canada indicated religious obligations as a reason for
volunteering, compared to 25 % of native-born Canadians (Scott 2006). Another
national survey showed that when immigrants volunteer, they are more likely than
Canadian natives to do so at religious organizations (Hall et al. 2009). Carabain and
Bekkers (2011) also found that those with higher levels of religious attendance were
more likely to volunteer for religious organizations in the Netherlands.
Handy and Greenspan (2009) state that volunteering experiences can attenuate
the effects of relocation for immigrants to Canada as they seek to regain social and
human capital lost in the migration process. They argue that connections to religious
congregations not only help foster opportunities to volunteer, but also provide an
easily accessible venue for introducing and socializing immigrants because for
many immigrants, volunteering was a relatively unknown phenomenon in their own
countries.
The relationship between religiosity and secular voluntary participation is less
clear. Some studies show that religious conservatives are less likely to be involved
in secular volunteering (i.e., Wilson and Janoski 1995). However, others find that
Americans with conservative religious values are more likely to volunteer for
secular causes (Uslaner 2002). In general, those who attend religious gatherings
frequently may learn to put self-interest aside and believe that there is a moral
responsibility to help others. The sense of obligation based on personal religious
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beliefs could foster voluntary participation in secular settings, since people believe
they should lend a helping hand when there is a need in the community.
We hypothesize:
H8 Religious attendance will be positively associated with voluntary participation
of both immigrants and natives and this result will be more pronounced for religious
voluntary participation than secular voluntary participation.
Individual Characteristics
Literature on volunteering shows that personal resources (i.e., educational
attainment, income), social resources (i.e., employment, marital status, the presence,
and number of children in the household), and other individual characteristics, such
as health, age and gender, are typically associated with the likelihood of voluntary
participation (Musick et al. 2000; Wilson and Musick 1997; Wilson 2000). We
control for these individual resources and characteristics in our theoretical
framework of immigrant voluntary participation. Good health and ability to
function are resources needed to participate in volunteer activities, and those with
functional deficits in such resources may have lower rates of participation (Li and
Ferraro 2006; Wilson and Musick 1997); health status is usually positively
associated with religious and secular voluntary participation among immigrants and
natives. Those who were employed, had higher levels of formal education, had
school-aged children in the household, had higher household income, and were
female were found to be most likely to participate in volunteering activities in
Canada (Hall et al. 2009). Based on the literature, educational attainment,
employment, income, marital status, and the number of children in the family
likely augment participation in voluntary associations. Females are expected to be
more likely than males to participate and volunteer, and age is expected to have a
curvilinear relationship with voluntary participation.
In sum, we hypothesize that social trust, informal and bridging social networks,
community attachment, pride/sense of belonging, speaking English and/or French at
home, and religiosity are positively related to an immigrant’s likelihood of
voluntary participation for religious and secular organizations. Additionally, we
hypothesize that trust in government is negatively associated with natives’ religious
and secular voluntary participation. Among the control variables, health, a higher
education, full time employment, having children at home, and income levels are
expected to be associated with higher levels of religious and secular voluntary
participation.
Methods
This study uses data derived from the Canadian Equality, Security, and Community
Survey2 conducted in winter 2003 to examine the factors that explain immigrants’
2 The Survey was completed at the Institute for Social Research of York University.
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and Canadian natives’ involvement in religious and secular voluntary organizations,
respectively. The survey is part of a large research effort to assess well-being,
participation in civil society, people’s attitudes toward the role and efficacy of the
state, and public policies in Canada. About 5,600 respondents of 18 years of age or
older were randomly selected for a telephone interview. Of the respondents, 4,202
were representative samples of the national population and the remainder was
oversample of urban population. The overall response rate is about 50 %. After
excluding missing values of variables included in the analysis, 512 immigrants and
2,208 natives (those born in Canada) are included in the study. Immigrants are
defined as those who were not born in Canada, but have obtained either a ‘‘landed’’
immigrant status or citizenship at the time of the survey. Immigrants included in the
analysis primarily came from India, China, England, the US, Philippines, and Sri
Lanka.
Dependent Variables
Two separate variables, voluntary participation in religious organizations and
voluntary participation in secular organizations, were used to assess immigrants’
and Canadian natives’ voluntary involvement, respectively. Religious voluntary
participation is coded as 1 if a respondent is a voluntary member of, or volunteered
for, at least one group that is directly associated with his/her place of worship in the
last 12 months, and 0 otherwise. Secular voluntary participation is coded as 1 if a
respondent is a member of, or has volunteered time for, at least one non-religious
type of group or organization, including service clubs, recreational groups,
organizations active on political issues, youth-oriented groups, organizations
providing cultural services to the public, organizations that help people, organiza-
tions connected with a nationality or ethnic/racial group, and other groups, in the
last 12 months, and 0 otherwise.
Independent Variables
Social trust is measured by a five-point Likert scale of whether the respondent
thinks most people can be trusted; with 5 being ‘‘most people can be trusted’’ and 1
being ‘‘one cannot be too careful in dealing with people.’’ Trust in local government
is a seven-point Likert scale measuring how much the respondent trusts the local
government of the province, with 1 being ‘‘almost never or never’’ and 7 being
‘‘almost always or always.’’
Informal social networks are measured by the average of a respondent’s
responses to three questions on informal social networks: how often the respondent
meets family members, meets close friends, and talks with neighbors, respectively.
For each variable, 0 means the respondent does not engage in the activity, and 1–6
means the respondent does so less than several times a year, several times a year, at
least once a month, at least once a week, several times a week, and every day,
respectively. The informal social networks’ score ranges from 0.67 to 6.
Bridging social networks is measured by the diversity of friendships the
respondent has. The respondent is asked if he/she has friends that include (1) a
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manual worker, (2) someone who has been on welfare, (3) owns a recreational
property, (4) has a different religion, (5) who is very religious, (6) of a different
ethnicity, (7) gay or lesbian, (8) who is 10 years older or younger, (9) who is in a
different social class or income bracket, (10) who speaks a different language, or
(11) who has much more or much less education than the respondent; with a
response of ‘‘yes’’ coded as 1 and ‘‘no’’ coded as 0. The bridging social networks’
scores range from 0 to 11.
Community attachment is measured by the number of years the respondent lived
at the current address. Pride/sense of belonging is measured by the sum of responses
to two questions: how proud the respondent is to be Canadian and whether the
respondent feels a sense of belonging to Canada. Responses to the first question use
a seven-point Likert scale, with 1 being ‘‘not at all proud’’ and 7 being ‘‘very
proud.’’ Responses to the second question use a 10-point Likert scale, with 1 being
‘‘do not feel a sense of belonging’’ and 10 being ‘‘feels a sense of completely
belonging.’’
Language proficiency is a binary variable with 1 indicating the respondent speaks
French and/or English at home, and 0 otherwise.
Religious attendance is measured by how often the respondent attends religious
service, which ranges from 1 as ‘‘never’’ to 7 as ‘‘every week.’’
Health is self-reported health status, with 1 being poor health and 5 being
excellent health. Age is a continuous variable ranging from 18 to 97. The
respondent’s age and the square term of age are included in the model to indicate a
possible curvilinear relationship between age and the likelihood of voluntary
participation. Gender is a binary variable, with 0 being female and 1 being male.
Education is measured by the highest level of education the respondent has
competed. It ranges from 0 (no schooling) to 10 (professional degree or doctorate).
Employment status is a categorical variable, including employed, homemaker,
unemployed, and other categories (i.e., students and retirees). The unemployed is
the reference group in the analysis. Income is the annual household income, before
taxes and deduction, of 2002 in thousands of (Canadian) dollars. Marital status is a
binary variable with 1 being married or living with a partner and 0 otherwise.
Children is measured by the number of children under age 18 in the household.
Results and Findings
Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of the variables included in the analysis.
Overall, immigrants are less likely to participate or volunteer for all types of
organizations than natives (51.8 vs. 57.2 %, p \ 0.05), which supports our
hypothesis (H1a). Compared to Canadian natives, immigrants are more likely to
participate or volunteer in religious organizations (38.5 vs. 34.9 %), but are less
likely to participate or volunteer for secular groups (58.8 vs. 62.3 %). While these
differences are not statistically significant (as expected in H1b), our hypotheses is
partially supported, in that immigrants, in general, are significantly less engaged in
voluntary associations than natives.
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The descriptive statistics of independent variables show significant differences
between immigrants and Canadian natives. In general, natives trust other people
more (3.7 vs. 3.27, p \ 0.001), but trust local government less (3.4 vs. 3.6,
p \ 0.01), compared to immigrants. It is not surprising that natives have stronger
informal social networks (4.0 vs. 3.7, p \ 0.001) and community attachment than
immigrants (12.3 vs. 8.2, p \ 0.001). Natives also have a stronger sense of
belonging or pride to be Canadian than immigrants (15.1 vs. 14.7, p \ 0.001).
Almost all native respondents (98 %) speak French and/or English at home as
compared to 60 % of immigrants. Interestingly, natives attend religious services less
often than immigrants, and their average level of education is slightly lower than
that of immigrants. However, immigrants on average have more children under 18
than natives (0.9 vs. 0.7, p \ 0.01), and immigrants in general perceive themselves
to be healthier (2.2 vs. 2.1, p \ 0.05). These differences may impact decisions to
volunteer and choices of where to volunteer. We examine this next.
Table 1 Descriptive statistics for immigrants and Canadian natives
Variables Immigrants
N = 512
Mean/percentage
Canadian natives
N = 2,208
Mean/percentage
Voluntary participation in all organizations (%) 51.8 57.2*
Dependent variables
Religious voluntary participation (%) 38.5 34.9
Secular voluntary participation (%) 58.8 62.3
Independent variables
Social trust 3.3 3.7***
Trust in local government 3.6 3.4**
Informal social networks 3.7 4.0***
Bridging social networks 7.2 7.3
Community attachment 8.2 12.3***
Pride/sense of belonging 14.7 15.1***
Language proficiency (%) 59.8 98.3***
Religious attendance 4.4 4.1*
Age 45.6 47.1*
Gender (male, %) 52.9 42.9***
Education 6.2 5.5***
Employment status
Employed (%) 60.9 61.1
Homemaker (%) 4.9 6.3
Other (%) 26.2 27.1
Income $56,289 $61,032
Marital status (%) 60.2 61.1
Children 0.9 0.7**
Health 2.2 2.1*
Canadian natives and immigrant group differ at * p \ 0.05 level, ** p \ 0.01 level, *** p \ 0.001 level
for a two-tailed test of significance
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The multiple logistic regression analysis is conducted in two steps. First, we
explore whether religious and secular voluntary participation, respectively, differ by
immigrant status, controlling for socio-economic backgrounds and other variables in
the model. During this process, we have tested interaction terms of immigrant status
and other variables in the model to see whether the impact of these variables on
voluntary participation differs by immigrant status. The results show that
immigrants are much more likely to participate in religious organizations than
natives. More interestingly, the interaction term of religious attendance and
immigrant status is significant in the model of religious voluntary participation,
which indicates that the impact of religious attendance on religious voluntary
participation significantly differs between immigrants and natives. For secular
voluntary participation, we also found that immigrants and natives significantly
differ in their propensity to participate in, or volunteer for, secular organizations;
this impact is mediated by several socioeconomic characteristics, such as marital
status and income. These results suggest that immigrants and natives should be
examined separately to determine the impact of various factors, such as trust, social
network, and religiosity on religious and secular voluntary participation. Due to
space limitations, the results of this step are not presented in the paper but are
available upon request. In the second step, we examine religious and secular
voluntary participation of immigrants and Canadian natives separately.
Table 2 presents the regression results of four models: two on immigrants’
voluntary participation in religious and secularly organizations, respectively, and
two on Canadian natives. For each model, coefficients (b) and odds ratios (ORs) are
reported to show the impact of independent variables. The log likelihood and
pseudo R2 results indicate that all four models fit well with the data.
The results support our hypotheses on the association between social trust and
natives’ volunteering (H2). Natives with higher levels of social trust are found to be
more likely to participate in or volunteer for both religious and secular organizations
(ORR = 1.08, p \ 0.05; ORS = 1.10, p \ 0.01). However, the level of social trust
doesn’t affect immigrants’ likelihood of voluntary participation for either religious
or secular organizations. Additionally, it is surprising that trust in local government
does not seem to be correlated with either religious or secular voluntary
participation among immigrants or Canadian natives (H3).
In terms of social networks, the results show that immigrants’ informal social
networks are positively associated with both religious and secular voluntary
participation, and the association is stronger for secular voluntary participation. The
finding partially supports our hypothesis (H4). A one unit increase in informal social
networks—the frequency of interacting with family, friends and neighbors—
increases immigrants’ likelihood of religious and secular voluntary participation by
29 % (ORR = 1.29, p \ 0.05) and 35 % (ORS = 1.35, p \ 0.01), respectively. The
finding is somewhat surprising as we expect immigrants with more informal social
networks to be closely tied to organizations within the immigrants’ community,
such as religious organizations. The results, however, suggest that informal social
networks could also expand immigrants’ connections and give them more chances
to get involved in secular organizations (than religious organizations). Informal
social networks are also found to increase natives’ propensity to participate in, or
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volunteer for, both religious and secular organizations, although the impacts are
smaller compared to those of immigrants (ORR = 1.28, p \ 0.001; ORS = 1.27,
p \ 0.001). It is interesting that bridging social networks only increased
immigrants’ propensity to participate in or volunteer for secular organizations
(ORS = 1.17, p \ 0.001), not religious organizations, which partially supports our
hypotheses (H5). This finding suggests that immigrants’ secular voluntary partic-
ipation is more susceptible or responsive to changes in their networks since those
who are more adapted to the host country and who have developed broader
networks will have a better chance of being asked to participate or volunteer by a
variety of secular organizations. Alternatively, immigrants’ religious voluntary
participation is less susceptible to the change in diversity of social networks since
immigrants tend to participate in ethnically homogenous religious organizations.
This differs from that of natives, whose diverse social networks increase both their
Table 2 Logistic regression of voluntary organization involvement
Religious voluntary participation Secular voluntary participation
Immigrant
(N = 512)
Canadian natives
(N = 2,208)
Immigrant
(N = 512)
Canadian natives
(N = 2,208)
b (Odds ratio) b (Odds ratio) b (Odds ratio) b (Odds ratio)
Intercept -5.84*** -6.23*** -4.70*** -4.86***
Social trust 0.06 (1.06) 0.08 (1.08)* 0.05 (1.05) 0.09 (1.10)**
Trust in local government 0.02 (1.02) 0.03 (1.03) -0.01 (0.99) -0.00 (1.00)
Informal social networks 0.26 (1.29)* 0.24 (1.28)*** 0.30 (1.35)** 0.24 (1.27)***
Bridging social networks 0.08 (1.09) 0.14 (1.15)*** 0.15 (1.17)*** 0.15 (1.16)***
Community attachment 0.03 (1.03) 0.01 (1.01) 0.01 (1.01) 0.01 (1.01)
Pride/sense of belonging 0.02 (1.02) 0.01 (1.01) 0.01 (1.01) 0.07 (1.08)***
Language proficiency 0.18 (1.20) -0.47 (0.62) 0.47 (1.59)* -0.22 (0.81)
Religious attendance 0.46 (1.59)*** 0.68 (1.98)*** 0.22 (1.25)*** 0.22 (1.25)***
Age -0.01 (0.99) -0.05 (0.95)* -0.01 (0.99) -0.05 (0.96)*
Age2 0.00 (1.00) 0.00 (1.00)* 0.00 (1.00) 0.00 (1.00)*
Gender (male) 0.15 (1.16) 0.08 (1.08) -0.21 (0.81) 0.10 (1.10)
Education 0.11 (1.12)* 0.08 (1.09)** 0.14 (1.15)** 0.24 (1.27)***
Employment
Employed 0.14 (1.15) 0.78 (2.18)* 0.46 (1.58) 0.58 (1.78)**
Homemaker 0.68 (1.97) 0.48 (1.62) 0.69 (1.99) 0.37 (1.45)
Other 0.66 (1.94) 0.65 (1.91) 1.28 (3.59)** 0.49 (1.64)*
Income 0.00 (1.00) 0.00 (1.00) 0.01 (1.02)*** 0.00 (1.00)*
Marital status -0.24 (0.79) 0.12 (1.13) -0.44 (0.65) 0.28 (1.32)*
Children 0.19 (1.21) 0.06 (1.07) 0.03 (1.03) 0.15 (1.16)**
Health 0.07 (1.07) -0.04 (0.96) -0.05 (0.95) -0.04 (0.96)
-2Log likelihood 541.13 1,906.82 564.87 2,403.89
Pseudo R2 (%) 20.70 33.23 18.59 17.66
* p \ 0.05, ** p \ 0.01, *** p \ 0.001 for one-tailed test of significance
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religious and secular voluntary participation (ORR = 1.15, p \ 0.001; ORS = 1.16,
p \ 0.001).
The results also demonstrate that community attachment is not significantly
associated with either religious or secular voluntary participation among immigrants
and natives. Surprisingly, pride/sense of belonging does not seem to matter for
immigrants. Instead, natives who feel proud to be Canadians are more likely to be
actively involved in secular organizations (ORS = 1.08, p \ 0.001). The findings
do not support our hypothesis (H6). Immigrants who speak English/French at home
are also more likely to engage in secular organizations, but not in religious
organizations (ORS = 1.59, p \ 0.05). This finding supports our hypothesis (H7)
that language proficiency will increase voluntary participation for immigrants,
particularly in secular organizations.
As expected (in H8), both immigrants and natives who attend religious services
frequently are more likely to volunteer, and the association is stronger with religious
voluntary participation. An increase in the frequency of religious attendance
increases immigrants’ and natives’ odds of religious voluntary participation by
almost 60 % (OR = 1.59, p \ 0.001) and 98 % (OR = 1.98, p \ 0.001), respec-
tively, compared to secular voluntary participation of 25 % for both immigrants and
natives (p \ 0.001). Religious attendance connects people to religious institutions,
and thus increases their chances of being asked to engage in voluntary activities.
Those who attend religious gatherings frequently may also be more willing to help
others in secular settings since they believe it is a moral responsibility to help those
in need.
In terms of individual characteristics, education is positively associated with both
religious and secular voluntary participation among immigrants and natives.
Immigrants with a higher level of education, i.e., Master’s degree versus Bachelor’s
degree, are 12 % more likely to participate in activities of religious organizations
(p \ 0.05), and even more likely to participate in voluntary activities of secular
organizations (OR = 1.15, p \ 0.01). The same pattern applies to natives. A higher
level of education increases natives’ chance of religious voluntary participation by
9 % (p \ 0.01), compared to 27 % (p \ 0.001) for secular voluntary participation.
The findings support our hypotheses.
Employed natives are twice as likely to participation in or volunteer for religious
organizations (OR = 2.18, p \ 0.05) and 78 % more likely to be involved with
secular organizations (OR = 1.78, p \ 0.01) than those who are not employed.
However, employed immigrants are not more likely to engage in either religious or
secular voluntary activities than unemployed immigrants. Students and retired
immigrants or natives are both more likely to be involved with secular organizations
than their unemployed counterparts (ORimmi = 3.59, p \ 0.01; ORnative = 1.64,
p \ 0.05).
Immigrants and natives with higher household income are found to be more
likely to engage in voluntary activities of secular organizations, but income doesn’t
matter when it comes to religious voluntary participation. Married natives or those
who live with their partners are 32 % more likely to be involved with secular
organizations than those who live alone (p \ 0.05). Additionally, having one more
child living in the household increases natives’ likelihood of secular voluntary
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participation by 16 % (p \ 0.01). In contrast, marital status and the number of
children in the household are not associated with immigrants’ religious or secular
voluntary participation.
The results also show that middle-aged Canadian natives are more likely to
participate in, or volunteer for, religious and secular organizations than other age
groups. However, the curvilinear association between age and voluntary participa-
tion does not apply to immigrants. Additionally, gender and health status are found
insignificantly related to the propensity of either religious or secular voluntary
participation among immigrants and natives.
Discussion and Conclusion
Using data from the Canadian Equality, Security, and Community Survey, this study
compared immigrants’ and Canadian natives’ propensity of religious versus secular
voluntary participation and examined the factors associated with these two types of
behaviors.
What determines immigrants’ voluntary participation? Do natives differ from
immigrants in their voluntary participation rates in religious and secular organi-
zations, respectively? Although immigrants in our sample were quite different from
natives in many aspects, i.e., whether they trust people, trust local government, and
how often they visit family, friends, and neighbors, some of these factors impacted
immigrants’ and natives’ voluntary participation in similar ways, and in the
expected direction. For example, church attendance and education promoted
voluntary participation in not only religious but also in secular organizations among
both immigrants and Canadian natives. These two factors have been found to
consistently predict the tendency of voluntary participation, both in the general
population of numerous countries, such as Australia, Canada, and the US, and in
certain disadvantaged groups, such as ethnic minorities (Cnaan et al. 1993; Musick
et al. 2000; Musick and Wilson 2008; Wang et al. 2013). It is hardly surprising that
frequent churchgoers would be more likely to participate in voluntary activities in
the church. However, in terms of its impact on secular voluntary participation, prior
studies show inconsistent findings. Sundeen and Raskoff (1994) found that church
attendance had a strong positive effect on religious volunteering, but a negative
effect on educational volunteering among American teenagers. Most studies have
found that religiously active individuals are more likely to participate and volunteer
in both religious and secular domains, albeit stronger in some domains than others
(Bowen 1999; Putnam and Campbell 2010; Wuthnow 2004). For example, Putnam
and Campbell (2010) found that regular churchgoers are more likely to volunteer for
secular organizations, as well as religious ones. Among secular voluntary
participation, church attendance is found to be a significant predictor for all types
of volunteering, except for arts and cultural organizations. Wuthnow (2004) found
that people who attended religious services weekly, or almost weekly, were more
likely to have volunteered than those who attended once or twice a month, or only a
few times a year. The difference was most salient in the tendency to engage in
voluntary activities at church and schools, or for youth development and the
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distribution of food. The findings of this study—religious attendance encourages
both religious and secular voluntary participation, with a stronger impact on
religious voluntary participation—support the conclusions of most other studies.
Additionally, the findings extend the literature by showing that the impact of
religious attendance on voluntary participation is similar between immigrants and
Canadian natives.
The observed correlation between religiosity and voluntary participation in this
study may be applicable to similar liberal countries, such as the US, and the UK
(Musick and Wilson 2008). However, conclusions regarding the correlation between
religiosity and voluntary participation should be applied with caution to other
countries. For example, Sweden is one of the most secular countries according to the
World Values Survey but it has a very high rate of volunteering (Rothstein 2001).
Increased secularism, instead of religiosity, is found to be correlated with increased
voluntarism in Sweden. Much of the voluntary work in Sweden focuses on cultural
and recreational pursuits as well as trade union activities (Lundstrom and Svedberg
2003), suggesting that secularism may promote secular volunteering in certain
domains. Future studies need to examine cross-country differences in the correlation
between individuals’ religiosity and different types of secular voluntary participa-
tion, controlling for broad cultural and social differences.
Educational attainment is often the strongest predictor of voluntary participation.
Prior studies have offered various reasons as to why volunteers are more educated
than non-volunteers. Musick and Wilson (2008) argue that ‘‘more schooling
encourages cosmopolitan attitudes, fosters empathy with the less fortunate, and
builds self-confidence. It improves cognitive functioning, informing people about
the world around them, raising consciousness of social problems, encouraging
people to be more analytical and more critical about social conditions…The more
education people have the more extensive and heterogeneous are their social
networks, which increases the chances they will be asked to volunteer…educational
qualifications…are a form of credentialing, signaling one’s capabilities to do
volunteer work’’ (pp. 119–120). Our findings extend the literature with empirical
evidence showing that education increases both religious and secular voluntary
participation among immigrants and Canadian natives, and the impact is stronger
for secular voluntary participation.
Social networks, particularly informal social networks, prove to be an important
factor in influencing religious and secular voluntary participation among Canadian
immigrants and natives. Those who interact more often with family members, close
friends, and neighbors are also more likely to engage in voluntary activities in
religious and secular organizations. This finding applies to both immigrants and
natives, supporting our hypothesis that interactions with family, friends, and
neighbors increases people’s chances of being exposed to volunteering opportuni-
ties, and, in turn, increases their likelihood of participation. Additionally, an
increase in bridging social networks, or the diversity of friendship, increases the
likelihood of both religious and secular voluntary participation among natives, but
only increases secular voluntary participation among immigrants. This finding
suggests a possible different mechanism for immigrants to get connected to secular
versus religious organizations. When immigrants arrive in a host country, they may
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seek out religious homes, and once they’re connected, they tend to stay involved in
the same organizations for a long time. Therefore, having different types of friends
may not necessarily increase immigrants’ religious voluntary participation. For
secular organizations, however, having a variety of friends may open channels for
immigrants to get connected to different types of secular organizations, increasing
their propensity of voluntary participation in these organizations. Our findings give
a more nuanced picture of how social networks might affect natives’ and
immigrants’ voluntary participation differently.
The results revealed interesting differences for social trust. We found that social
trust significantly increased the odds of participation in both religious and secular
organizations among natives but not immigrants in Canada. The difference between
immigrants and natives is that natives are likely to opt out of voluntary participation
if they have low social trust, but an immigrant’s decision to participate or volunteer
does not seem to be significantly affected by their trust in others. It is likely that
immigrants base their decision to participate on factors other than trust, such as
paying heed to several government initiatives that specifically advise immigrants to
seek volunteer experiences in lieu of ‘‘Canadian work experience’’ to improve their
employment opportunities (Aycan and Berry 1996; Bauder 2003; Dudley 2007).
The findings also show that trust in local government does not positively or
negatively affect the rates of religious and secular voluntary participation for either
the immigrants or the natives, suggesting that Canadian residents overall may
separate their decisions of voluntary participation from their view of the
government. It is also surprising that community attachment, measured as the
number of years lived in a community, does not affect either religious or secular
voluntary participation among both immigrants and natives. Newcomers to a
community are just as likely to participate in religious and secular organizations as
old residents. Different mechanisms may be present that motivate immigrants and
natives to get involved in formal institutions—newcomers participate in organiza-
tions to get to know other people, while long-term residents to stay connected to
their established networks, which explains why community attachment has made no
difference in the tendency to participate in either religious or secular organizations
among immigrants and natives.
Speaking English or French at home positively affects immigrants’ propensity to
participate in, and volunteer for, secular organizations in Canada, but not for
religious organizations. This finding suggests that immigrants who speak the
language of the host country face lower barriers of entry in volunteering in the
secular sector. The fact that language does not affect immigrants’ likelihood of
voluntary participation in religious organizations shows that immigrants who do not
speak English or French at home may feel more comfortable in the religious setting
which is often ethnically homogeneous; this increases the portability of being asked
to volunteer and acquiescing. Therefore, they are equally likely to be involved with
religious organizations as those who do speak English or French at home. As we
expected, speaking English or French at home does not affect native’s likelihood of
voluntary participation in either secular or religious organizations.
Family status, including marriage and children, significantly increases Canadian
natives’ likelihood of voluntary participation in secular organizations, but not
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immigrants’. It does not affect religious voluntary participation for both groups
either. The findings are surprising since having a child provides opportunities for
parents to engage in activities at schools, youth-oriented organizations, recreational
groups, and culture service groups. For immigrants’ family, children often serve as
the agent facilitating parents’ integration into the mainstream voluntary organiza-
tions. The fact that we find no significant influence of children on either religious or
secular voluntary participation among immigrants suggests that immigrant parents
might be under more time or financial constraints than their native counterparts to
participation and volunteer.
Overall, this study found that immigrants who have more informal social
networks, higher educational attainment, and attend religious services often are
more likely to participate in, or volunteer for, both religious and secular
organizations in Canada. Diversity of friendship, higher income, and speaking
English and/or French at home also promote immigrants’ secular voluntary
participation. The most salient difference between immigrants’ and natives’
decision to participate in voluntary associations is that social trust is not associated
with immigrants’ decision to participate, but it matters for natives’. Additionally,
having different types of friends only increases immigrants’ chance of secular
voluntary participation, but it promotes both religious and secular voluntary
participation for natives.
The findings of different associations between trust, social networks, and
immigrants’ and native’ propensities of religious versus secular voluntary partic-
ipation in Canada extend the current literature on the influences of trust and social
networks on an individual’s decision to volunteer (Bekkers and Bowman 2009;
Brown and Ferris 2007). The fact that social trust is significantly associated with
natives’ voluntary participation, but not immigrants’ voluntary participation,
suggests that trust mechanisms may work differently among socially or econom-
ically disadvantaged groups of people, such as immigrants or racial/ethnic
minorities. Future studies need to examine why natives are less likely to engage
in voluntary participation when they distrust others, and why immigrants’ decisions
are not associated with their level of trust. It is likely that immigrants are motivated
to participate and volunteer in the host country not because of how they trust or feel
about other people in general, but because they take advantage of the opportunities
to participate and volunteer in order to meet new people, learn about their host
country, and to learn language and other skills to ease their integration
(Schugurensky et al. 2005).
The results of this study also show how immigrants’ religious and secular
voluntary participation in Canada are shaped by different factors, such as bridging
social networks, language barriers, and family income. These findings suggest that
immigrants’ secular involvement is more susceptible to their level of acculturation
and financial security. The fact that immigrants’ religious voluntary participation is
not affected by their deficiencies in social networks, languages, and financial
resources indicates that religious institutions can be the venue to teach immigrants
the value of participation and volunteering in community-based organizations or
other secular settings. These findings also indicate the need to further examine
religious and secular voluntary participation separately in future studies.
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Additionally, as some secular organizations are ethnic-oriented or immigrant-
focused, it would be helpful to examine what types of secular organizations that
immigrants and natives prefer, respectively, and what influences the preference. To
understand immigrants’ integration into the host society, natives’ and immigrants’
participation in similar or different religious or secular organizations should be
further analyzed.
Due to data limitation, this study focused on individual factors that influenced
immigrants’ and Canadian natives’ religious and secular voluntary participation.
Prior research, however, has demonstrated that organizational factors, such as
organizational recruitment and management strategies, could affect natives’ and
immigrants’ voluntary participation as well. Musick and Wilson (2008) argued that
the recruitment process is important in the study of volunteers. As the dominant
status model suggests, nonprofit organizations often use stratified recruitment
strategies, which identify and attract individuals with higher social, economic, and
cultural capital that they can easily and productively use (Bryant et al. 2003). After
comparing different types of organizations (workplace, voluntary associations, and
churches) in terms of their capacity to include different social strata and allow them
to learn civic skills, Verba et al. (1995) found that churches are the most equal
settings, giving opportunities to disadvantaged groups. This finding suggests that
immigrants, a typically disadvantaged group in a host country, may find it more
accepted and comfortable to participate or volunteer in an equal and inclusive
setting like churches. This finding supports our conclusion that religious institutions
are a critical social mechanism to help immigrants develop civic skills and thus
integrate them into the host country. Future studies should consider how
organizational recruitment strategies, management practices, and culture affect
immigrants’ and natives’ religious and secular voluntary participation.
The immigrant population in Canada is not a homogeneous group. There are
more than 200 different ethnic groups that reside in Canada today and newcomers
arrive from all parts of the world, including Asia, Europe, the US, and Africa,
among others. Immigrants from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds may have
very different understandings of voluntary participation, which in turn influences
their participation patterns. For example, Scott (2006) argues that in some cultures,
volunteering is an activity of the economically privileged, while for some others, the
issues of unpaid work may be problematic. Therefore, it would be interesting for
future studies to explore the different patterns of voluntary participation among
immigrants by their ethnic origins.
What policy implications can we conclude from the findings of this study
regarding immigrant integration in Canada and other countries? Canadian govern-
ment has been promoting voluntary participation among immigrants or newcomers
as a way to better integrate them into Canada. These policies, if effective, could
encourage immigrants to get involved in various types of formal organizations in
Canadian society, which in turn reduces the difference in the likelihood of voluntary
participation between natives and immigrants. If voluntary participation reinforces
ethnic ties, and if the ‘‘embeddedness’’ of the immigrants is concentrated in
religious communities separated by participants’ ethnic backgrounds, there may be
a negative effect leading to the ‘‘hunkering down’’ as noted by Putnam (2007) that
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would pose challenges to social solidarity. In promoting voluntary participation
among immigrants, it is desirable to implement policies and programs that are more
likely to engage immigrants in organizations with a diversity of members. The
findings of this study are applicable to western countries that share similar
immigration and religious backgrounds with Canada, such as the US. Given, the
different cultural and political context of other countries, the findings of this study
and the policy implications should be applied with caution to countries with
dominant secular cultures, such as Scandinavian countries. Future studies can
compare immigrants’ and natives’ religious versus secular voluntary participation
across countries to study the potential impact of each host country’s culture and
government policy on immigrants’ participation in voluntary associations.
Acknowledgments The authors appreciate Dr. Richard Johnston of the University of British Columbia
for sharing the dataset. The authors also appreciate Kate Samuelson for her research assistance.
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