Voluntary Participation in Community Economic Development in Canada:

An Empirical Analysis

by Laura Lamb (2011)

Approximately 1200 CED organizations in Canada (2006)

Federal & Provincial governments have come to recognize importance of CED◦ Provide varying levels of support

Background

Research expected to be useful for public policy makers & CED practitioners

Public policy perspective:◦ voluntary participation in CED organizations may

be viewed as a benefit to society by creating output that would otherwise require paid resources.

Background

To analyse volunteer motives for CED from an economic perspective.

4 research questions:1. What are the determinants of an

individual’s decision to voluntarily participate in a CED initiative in Canada?

2. Are the determinants of voluntarily participate in CED unique as compared to those of volunteering in general?

Objective

3. What are the determinants of the amount of time allocated toward voluntary participation in a CED initiative in Canada?

4. Are the determinants of time allocated toward voluntary participation in CED different from those of volunteering in general?

voluntary participation in development and housing organizations including:◦ organizations for community and neighbourhood,

economic development◦ social development◦ housing associations◦ housing assistance◦ job training programs◦ vocation counseling and guidance◦ vocational rehabilitation (International Classification of Nonprofit

Organizations)

Definition of participation in CED

Participation is vital to ensure that initiatives respond to the needs and capacities of the community as expressed by the community itself.

CED organizations play an important role in mobilizing citizen engagement and volunteer contributions in communities (2002 survey)

Role of participation in CED

Attaining sufficient levels of participation is often challenging◦ Marginalized communities suffer from a lack of

community cohesiveness, commitment, and transience.

Community organizers play a role in mobilizing people to act for their own interest◦ Community collective action

Participation Challenges

Rational choice theory◦ a rational individual will make the decision to

participate if the net benefits are positive and will continue to volunteer time until the marginal net benefits equal zero.

Volunteer labour supply theory◦ explores, identifies, and categorizes the motives

behind volunteering.

Economic Theory

Benefits◦ Private benefits◦ Public benefits

Costs◦ Opportunity costs (time)

Defining benefits & costs

Consumption benefits◦ satisfaction derived from the “warm glow” feeling

of doing something good, the achievement of a desired degree of social status, satisfaction from the work carried out, or the fulfillment of social or ethical norms

Investment benefits◦ motivated to gain exchangeable benefits such as

increasing job opportunities through the acquisition of skills, experience, and contacts

Private benefits

Motivated to increase the supply of the public good, and thereby obtain an altruistic benefit.

motivated by a sense of moral obligation prescribed by her (his) own set of values.

the common economic view of pure altruism is that it either does not exist at all or at best is very rare

Public benefits (based on public goods model)

age education Income the presence of children immigrant status religious activity donation activity social capital

Socio-economic factors

Pced = F (A, C, I, T, S)

P: participation A: altruistic benefitsC: consumption benefitsI: investment benefitsT: time costs of participationS: socio-economic factors

The empirical model

Hced = F (A, C, I, T, S)

H: # hours of participation

Private Benefits◦ Investment benefit

Student status Self-employment status Company policy to encourage volunteering

◦ Consumption benefit Asked to volunteer

Measurement of variables

Public Benefits◦ Altruism /consumption

Age 55 + Informal volunteering

Measurement of variables

Time cost variables◦ Presence of children◦ # hours of paid employment

Measurement of variables

Table 3Frequency and percentage distribution of voluntary participation in community economic development according to their socioeconomic characteristics (n=1302)

Socioeconomic characteristics Frequency (%)

Age 15-34 316 24.2

35-54 614 47.2

55+ 372 28.6

Total 100.0

Gender Female 703 54.0

Male 599 46.0

Total 100.0

Education Maximum high school diploma 338 26.0

At least some post-secondary 964 74.0

Total 100.0

Household Income <$40,000 131 10.1

$40,000-$100,000 903 40.7

$100,000+ 268 20.6

Total 100.0

Religious attendance At least weekly 287 22.0

Less than weekly/never 1015 78.0

Total 100.0

Time in community Less than 5 years 263 20.0

≥5 years 1039 80.0

Total 100.0

Immigrant status Canadian born 1130 87.0

Immigrant 172 13.0

Total 100.0

Charitable donations Participant 1238 95.0

Non-participant 64 5.0

Total 100.0

Source: 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (CSGVP)

Results – Participation Model Children (+) Hours worked (-) Age (+) Donations (+) Consumption benefit:

◦ asked (+)◦ retired (+)

Altruistic benefit: ◦ informal volunteering (+)

Investment benefit: ◦ student (+)◦ employer policy (+)◦ Self-employed (+)

Significant variables!

Results – Hours Volunteered Model Hours worked (-) Post-sec. educ (-) Consumption benefit:

◦ asked (+) Immigrant status

Significant variables!

Results support economic theory◦ Likelihood of participation is positively affected by

consumption & investment benefits, and may be positively affected by altruistic benefits.

◦ Likelihood of participation is negatively affected by the number of hours spend working for pay.

◦ Likelihood of participating is positively affected by children, an increase in age, & charitable giving.

Results summary

Results show some support for economic theory◦ The likelihood of devoting additional hours to CED

is positively affected by consumption benefits.

◦ The likelihood of devoting additional hours to CED is negatively affected by the number of hours spent working for pay.

Results summary

Different determinants for CED & general volunteering: participation model & hours devoted

Results- summary

Government might develop programs for the purpose of increasing private & public benefits to stimulate more participation in CED activities.

Government policy to improve success rate of CED projects

Tax incentive for volunteer participation.

Public policy implications

Inform strategies to increase participation

◦ Increase private benefits

Providing recognition for contributions Match volunteer to task providing private benefit

Consumption benefit Investment benefit

CED policy implications

Better data ◦ CED participation ◦ Measurement of altruistic benefit & consumption

benefit

Additional variables◦ leadership◦ Probability of success of participation

Future research