IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v36y2024i3p1848-1865.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Volunteering in China: How significant is the peer effect?

Author

Listed:
  • Fang Li
  • Hongxu Ma
  • Suyan Shen

Abstract

This study theoretically evaluated and empirically tested the peer effect of residents' volunteering behaviour in a Chinese scenario using data from the 2019 China Comprehensive Social Situation Survey (CSS). The study found that residents' volunteering behaviour had significant peer effect, with every unit increase in volunteering activities of other residents in the community enhancing the probability of residents' participation in volunteering by 21.0% to 30.0%. The results were still valid even after using community location, province dummy variables, and instrumental variables to determine reflexivity and correlation. By contrast, urban community residents were more affected by peer effect. Internet access attenuated the peer influence. Interpersonal trust and trust in charitable organizations reinforced the peer effect, whereas trust in dysfunctional government inhibited the peer influence. The study findings provide a theoretical and empirical standard for improving volunteer incentives and mechanisms as well as enhancing policy effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Fang Li & Hongxu Ma & Suyan Shen, 2024. "Volunteering in China: How significant is the peer effect?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(3), pages 1848-1865, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:36:y:2024:i:3:p:1848-1865
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3884
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3884
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.3884?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lawrence E. Blume & William A. Brock & Steven N. Durlauf & Rajshri Jayaraman, 2015. "Linear Social Interactions Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(2), pages 444-496.
    2. Liang, Pinghan & Guo, Shiqi, 2015. "Social interaction, Internet access and stock market participation—An empirical study in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 883-901.
    3. Charles F. Manski, 2000. "Economic Analysis of Social Interactions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 115-136, Summer.
    4. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1994. "A Theory of Conformity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 841-877, October.
    5. Duflo, Esther & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "Participation and investment decisions in a retirement plan: the influence of colleagues' choices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 121-148, July.
    6. Liu, Hong & Sun, Qi & Zhao, Zhong, 2014. "Social learning and health insurance enrollment: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 84-102.
    7. Lester M. Salamon & S. Wojciech Sokolowski & Megan A. Haddock, 2011. "Measuring The Economic Value Of Volunteer Work Globally: Concepts, Estimates, And A Roadmap To The Future," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 82(3), pages 217-252, September.
    8. Carman, Katherine Grace & Zhang, Lei, 2012. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Evidence from a Chinese middle school," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 223-237.
    9. Nie, Peng & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & He, Xiaobo, 2015. "Peer effects on childhood and adolescent obesity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 47-69.
    10. Charles F. Manski & Joram Mayshar, 2003. "Private Incentives and Social Interactions: Fertility Puzzles in Israel," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 181-211, March.
    11. Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2019. "Peer effects in consumption in India: An instrumental variables approach using negative idiosyncratic shocks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 122-137.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xueling Bao & Fengwan Zhang & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Jiahao Song & Dingde Xu, 2022. "Peer Effects on Farmers’ Purchases of Policy-Based Planting Farming Agricultural Insurance: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Amrei Lahno & Marta Serra-Garcia, 2015. "Peer effects in risk taking: Envy or conformity?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 73-95, February.
    3. Christian Thoeni & Simon Gaechter, 2011. "Peer Effects and Social Preferences in Voluntary Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2011-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    4. Duraj, Kamila & Grunow, Daniela & Chaliasos, Michael & Laudenbach, Christine & Siegel, Stephan, 2024. "Rethinking the stock market participation puzzle: A qualitative approach," IMFS Working Paper Series 210, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    5. Park, Youngkyun & Banerjee, Sudipto, 2020. "Coworker influence on annuitization decisions: Evidence from defined benefit plans," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 582-606.
    6. Shi, Yuxing & Cai, Yu & Zhao, Minjuan, 2021. "Social interaction effect of rotational grazing and its policy implications for sustainable use of grassland: Evidence from pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Yann Bramoullé & Habiba Djebbari & Bernard Fortin, 2020. "Peer Effects in Networks: A Survey," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 603-629, August.
    8. Christian Thoeni & Simon Gaechter, 2011. "Peer Effects and Social Preferences in Voluntary Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2011-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    9. Thöni, Christian & Gächter, Simon, 2015. "Peer effects and social preferences in voluntary cooperation: A theoretical and experimental analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 72-88.
    10. Egebark, Johan & Ekström, Mathias, 2011. "Like What You Like or Like What Others Like? Conformity and Peer Effects on Facebook," Working Paper Series 886, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. Guoyong Wu & Jianwei Cheng & Fan Yang, 2022. "The Influence of the Peer Effect on Farmers’ Agricultural Insurance Decision: Evidence from the Survey Data of the Karst Region in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, September.
    12. Hongbin Cai & Yuyu Chen & Hanming Fang, 2009. "Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 864-882, June.
    13. Lu, Timothy (Jun) & Tang, Ning, 2019. "Social interactions in asset allocation decisions: Evidence from 401(k) pension plan investors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 1-14.
    14. Feng, Yao, 2011. "Local spillovers and learning from neighbors: Evidence from durable adoptions in rural China," MPRA Paper 33924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Fishman, Arthur & Fishman, Ram & Gneezy, Uri, 2019. "A tale of two food stands: Observational learning in the field," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 101-108.
    16. Andreia Tolciu, 2010. "The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 223-242, January.
    17. Assar Lindbeck & Mårten Palme & Mats Persson, 2016. "Sickness Absence and Local Benefit Cultures," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(1), pages 49-78, January.
    18. Peter Kooreman, 2007. "Time, money, peers, and parents; some data and theories on teenage behavior," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 9-33, February.
    19. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    20. Bardsley, Nicholas & Sausgruber, Rupert, 2005. "Conformity and reciprocity in public good provision," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 664-681, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:36:y:2024:i:3:p:1848-1865. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.