Understanding the Motivation of College Students to Volunteer: An Integrated Consumption/Investment Analysis

Peiguan Wu, Xiaoye Li () and Xue Wang
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Peiguan Wu: Department of Management, International Business School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Xiaoye Li: Department of Economics, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Xue Wang: Department of Economics, Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, 2015, vol. 10, issue 4, 691-721

Abstract: This study examines the specific motivation of college students to volunteer, based on the interpretation of volunteering as entailing both consumption and investment. Analysis of micro-level data, collected in an online survey from non-volunteers and volunteers on the RenDa Economics Forum, one of the main social networking sites in China, and from volunteers at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in China, provides strong support for consumption-related motivation. However, we find no clear statistical evidence for the validity of the investment motive. Volunteering activities are found to play no significant role in determining future income when compared to other factors, such as test scores, gender, age, parents' education, job location, and the type of employer.

Keywords: college volunteers; consumption motive; investment motive (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 J28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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