Mandatory Community Service and Civic Engagement
-
Hwiyoung P. Lee
and
Ram A. Cnaan
Abstract
The decline in civic engagement has prompted scholars and policymakers to explore the role of education. One approach gaining traction is mandatory community service, which requires middle and high school students to complete a set number of community service hours as a condition for graduation. However, evidence on the long-term effects of such policies remains mixed, often due to challenges such as self-selection bias. South Korea’s rapid, nationwide implementation of mandatory community service offers a rare opportunity to examine the causal impact of this policy. Using this context, we analyze whether the policy influenced civic engagement outcomes across multiple domains, including participation in civic associations, trust in society, news consumption, volunteering, and donating. Our findings show that mandatory community service increased volunteering participation among individuals with lower educational attainment, and modestly increased political group participation among those with higher educational attainment. However, we find no evidence that the policy significantly affected other forms of civic engagement. We argue that debates on mandatory community service must grapple with the nuanced implications of its implementation, considering both its targeted successes and its broader limitations.
1 Introduction
Over the past few decades, signs of civic decline are becoming increasingly evident. In the United States, trust in government has reached historic lows over the past decade, a sentiment mirrored in the United Kingdom and other countries (Eurofound 2022; National Centre for Social Research 2024; Pew Research Center 2024). In Asia, there has been a steady decline in both volunteerism and charitable donations (Korea Statistics 2023; Statistics Bureau of Japan 2022). Beyond formal civic participation, scholars have noted a weakening of the social bonds that once closely linked individuals to their communities (Barber 1994; Putnam 2000). As confidence in institutions erodes, societies are left grappling with questions about the very structures that once anchored civic life, reshaping the landscape of public engagement and accountability.
For policymakers, fostering civic participation is crucial not only for its broad societal benefits but also for its practical role in supporting government functions and services (Kabalo and Almog-Bar 2023). In response, governments have introduced a range of initiatives – including social policies, legislation, and awards – to boost volunteering and public engagement (Haski-Leventhal et al. 2018). Many of these efforts increasingly focus on partnerships with the third sector – nonprofit organizations, charities, and community groups – which play an essential role in addressing social needs that the public sector alone cannot meet (Aiken and Bode 2009; Kim 2013; Power et al. 2021; for critical reviews, see Smith and Lipsky 1993; Wolch 1990). These third-sector entities rely heavily on individuals’ civic participation to fulfill their missions, depending on active volunteerism, public trust in institutions, and informed public discourse. Consequently, policies aimed at invigorating civic engagement emphasize its importance not only for individual communities but also for the effective functioning of society as a whole.
In response to the growing urgency to combat civic decline, some policymakers and educators have suggested a more assertive approach: mandating community service for middle and high school students. Proponents argue that by requiring students to participate in service, schools can ensure that all young people, regardless of background, have the opportunity to develop the skills and habits necessary for active citizenship (Afzal and Hussain 2020; Mohan 1994). Mandatory community service policies have been implemented in several countries, including the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Israel, and South Korea. In the U.S., Maryland became the first state to implement a statewide mandatory community service requirement for high school graduation in 1992. This policy mandates that all students complete a minimum of 75 hours of community service, with the goal of instilling civic responsibility and fostering engagement from a young age. Ontario, Canada, followed with a similar initiative in 1999, requiring high school students to complete 40 hours of service to graduate. Similarly, South Korea introduced nationwide mandatory community service requirements for all middle and high school students in the mid-1990s, with the intent of cultivating civic responsibility and fostering long-term civic engagement.
However, the effectiveness and desirability of mandatory community service programs remain underexplored. While evidence suggests that such programs can increase short-term volunteering, particularly among students who might not otherwise participate in volunteer activities, questions persist about whether coercion to serve can truly foster long-term civic engagement (Astin et al. 2000; Sobus 1995). Volunteering aside, given the diverse forms of civic engagement, it remains unclear whether these mandatory requirements impact other forms of civic activities differently in adulthood. Most studies examining the effects of mandatory community service focus primarily on volunteering or the intention to volunteer in the future. Yet, the potential influence of mandatory service on other civic outcomes – such as participation in various civic associations, trust in society, and news consumption – remains a crucial but understudied issue.
Building upon Lee and Cnaan (2025), which explored the long-term effects of mandatory community service on volunteering and donating, this study seeks to examine different civic outcomes that have yet to be explored. Using South Korea’s nationwide policy of middle and high school mandatory community service as a natural experiment, we assess a broad range of civic engagement outcomes in adulthood, including participation in various civic associations (local community groups/non-governmental groups/political groups), trust in society, and news consumption. By evaluating whether mandatory service in adolescence translates into sustained civic involvement, this research contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of compulsory service in fostering long-term civic vitality.
2 Background
2.1 Forms of Civic Engagement
Civic engagement can be understood through both narrow and broad lenses, encompassing various modes of participation in public life (Adler and Goggin 2005; Cnaan and Park 2016; for a critical essay on civic engagement, see Berger 2009). These frameworks help categorize the ways citizens contribute to their communities and society, ranging from formal, structured activities to more informal, individualized actions.
When viewed through a narrow lens, civic engagement traditionally includes structured activities such as voting, volunteering, and membership in formal organizations (Adler and Goggin 2005). These activities typically require sustained commitment and often involve direct interaction with established civic institutions. For example, volunteering through nonprofit organizations or community groups fosters long-term involvement and community building. In this framework, voluntary association participation, such as membership in local clubs, political groups, or advocacy organizations, plays a critical role in fostering social capital, where networks of reciprocity and trust are established through collective action (Putnam 2000). Participation in voluntary associations is also crucial for building interpersonal trust, as individuals interact regularly and cooperatively toward common goals (Cnaan and Park 2016). Such engagement is generally seen as fostering collective responsibility, creating strong bonds between citizens and their communities. Moreover, as the participation to voluntary and civic associations are often called social capital, scholars have demonstrated its economic benefits regarding labor market prospect as well (Ruiter and De Graaf 2009).
In contrast, a broader perspective on civic engagement includes more individualized and flexible forms of involvement that are often less formal and structured. This view encompasses more passive or latent forms of participation, such as “psychological attentiveness to social and political issues” (Serrat et al. 2019, p. e39), distinguishing it from civic participation, which inherently involves a behavioral component. When viewed this way, it becomes evident why the literature on civic engagement includes such a wide array of outcomes (Adler and Goggin 2005). For example, drawing from Georg Simmel’s early insight that confidence to trust others is “one of the most important synthetic forces within society” (Simmel 1950, p. 318; see also Paxton 2007), many civic engagement scholars have used trust as a key measure in predicting different modes of civic engagement (Uslaner and Brown 2005). While measuring trust can be challenging due to issues such as the trust radius problem, it is widely regarded as an “inherently civic phenomenon that characterizes connected, engaged, tolerant, prospering, and democratic communities” (Delhey et al. 2011, p. 787), making it one of the critical latent outcomes of civic engagement.
Additionally, activities that are deeply embedded in the personal lives of individuals and not reliant on formal organizational structures – such as political consumerism, digital activism, informal volunteering, and religious attendance (Cnaan and Park 2016; Piatak 2023) – as well as efforts to stay informed and contribute to public discourse without formal civic organization involvement, such as news readership and participation in online discussions (Putnam 1993, 2001; Uslaner 2004), play a significant role in this broader understanding of civic engagement. Although these forms of engagement may lack the structure and participatory nature of traditional civic involvement, they have been shown to influence the civic landscape by disseminating information and fostering networked or liquid participation (Haro-de-Rosario et al. 2018). Furthermore, such individualized forms of engagement can serve as a barometer of civic-mindedness (Van Matre et al. 2024), reflecting social awareness of issues that extend beyond personal concerns and into their communities, while also signaling the potential for more direct participation when triggered by specific events or causes.
2.2 (Mandatory) Community Service
Schools have long been regarded as a place where students learn civic values and develop civic capabilities. Even curricula not explicitly designed to promote civic skills are suggested to have “civic externalities” (Dee 2004, p. 1699). Scholars who emphasize the role of civic education have pointed out that schools have a “civic mission” (Lin 2015, p. 3), helping students become responsible citizens, as civic participation is a capacity that must be acquired, not innate (Barber 1994; Morse 1989). In line with these reflections, community service has been integrated into school and higher education settings. This approach assigns students to various service projects aimed at addressing community needs. A range of studies has reported positive outcomes associated with community service, extending beyond civic engagement to include academic performance, career development, and self-efficacy (Celio et al. 2011; Yorio and Ye 2012).
Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of community service, some scholars have noted that opportunities to participate in such activities are not equally accessible. These opportunities are often shaped by “the intersection of [students’] own sociocultural backgrounds” (Jones et al. 2005, p. 4), with students who voluntarily enroll in these programs being more likely to have prior experience with such activities from their families (Meyer et al. 2019; Van Goethem et al. 2014).
In response to such concerns, the introduction of mandatory community service in schools has been proposed. The objective is clear: to give opportunities to students who “would not participate absent a mandatory program”.[1] However, the imposition of a coercive element in community service has generated conflicting predictions across theoretical frameworks (Lee and Cnaan 2025), and empirical studies have produced mixed results (Hart et al. 2007; Helms 2013; Henderson et al. 2007; Metz and Youniss 2005). This inconsistency in findings is largely related to self-selection bias when evaluating the impact of mandatory community service. Students who participate in such programs are often already influenced by other civic fostering factors, such as parenting and community involvement, making it difficult to isolate the policy’s direct effect from these interconnected influences (Meyer et al. 2019; Putnam 2015). Students in districts with mandatory community service requirements are likely to be in environments with a stronger civic culture, complicating efforts to assess the requirement’s effectiveness. Since the core question is essentially causal, addressing issues of endogeneity should be a primary concern. Some studies have attempted to tackle this by using natural experiments, such as those conducted in Maryland (USA) and Ontario (Canada), where mandatory community service was implemented at the state level. However, further scrutiny is needed to ensure the appropriate selection of counterfactuals in these studies.
2.3 Mandatory Community Service in South Korea
The case of South Korea offers a unique context for exploring this question. Unlike other societies, South Korea implemented a nationwide mandatory community service program targeting all middle and high school students over a short period. This broad implementation allowed researchers to address concerns related to selecting appropriate comparison groups (states or provinces), thus promising higher internal validity of the findings.
In 1995, South Korea embarked on a national educational reform spearheaded by President Kim Youngsam, which introduced mandatory community service for middle and high school students. The policy was officially rolled out in 1996, following the Ministry of Education’s directive that required students to complete at least 20 hours of community service annually. Significant institutional support was marshaled for this initiative. The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism played a key role by establishing regional Korean Centers for Adolescent Volunteering to oversee student volunteer activities across the country. These centers were responsible for creating well-structured volunteer opportunities that aligned with the new service requirements. Concurrently, a partnership between government bodies and private organizations helped build an administrative framework to facilitate program implementation and monitor volunteer participation. This system channeled students into formal volunteer settings, such as nonprofit organizations and community centers, ensuring both compliance and proper tracking of service hours. Prior to the reform, youth volunteerism was notably low – estimated at 13.6 % before 1996. However, by 2000, nearly 87.1 % of adolescents were engaged in volunteer work, showcasing the rapid and widespread impact of the policy (Kim 2004; Kim and Jeong 2000).
Using this context, Lee and Cnaan 2025 demonstrated that mandatory community service in South Korea had a strong positive effect on volunteering participation among individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, while it had no significant effect – positive or negative – on those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. The key implications of the study are twofold. First, it revealed that mandatory community service generates long-term civic benefits – specifically in terms of volunteering participation – for populations that typically have fewer opportunities for civic engagement. The finding also suggests that concerns about a potential decline in motivation for volunteering are not substantiated, reinforcing the idea that adolescents are generally accustomed to requirements tied to educational objectives (see also Van Goethem et al. 2014, p. 2118).
Second, the positive effect of the policy was only evident when the sample was divided and analyzed based on socioeconomic status, represented by educational attainment. The rationale behind this is that the service requirement is especially beneficial to students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in such activities, and that their “baseline” can be reflected by their later educational attainment. Since initial exposure to civic engagement activities prior to participating in mandatory community service is difficult to measure – being influenced by factors such as parental, school, and community characteristics – educational attainment serves as a useful proxy that comprehensively accounts for these factors (Galobardes et al. 2006; Laurison and Friedman 2024), echoing with the socioeconomic status model of participation (Putnam 2000; Verba and Nie 1972). This approach further leaves open the possibility that the benefits of mandatory community service manifest differently across groups for different forms of engagement: students with lower civic baselines may be more likely to continue in similar volunteering roles, while those with higher initial civic engagement may be better positioned to translate the experience into broader forms of civic or political participation.
The question of whether mandatory community service influences other forms of civic engagement beyond volunteering and donating remains largely unexplored. Scholars in the field have generally posited that different forms of civic engagement often unfold in tandem, with one form influencing another. The literature suggests that participation in one civic activity, or even higher levels of trust, can lead to participation in others by lowering barriers to engagement (Musick and Wilson 2008; Putnam 2001; Uslaner and Brown 2005). However, some critical voices have challenged this, arguing that such claims often rest on the speculations of political theorists and that empirical evidence supporting these assertions is rarely provided (Oliver 2001). To address this gap, we examine whether mandatory community service impacts adult civic engagement outcomes other than volunteering and donating, specifically: [1] participation in local community groups, [2] participation in non-governmental groups, [3] participation in political groups, [4] trust in society, and [5] news consumption.
3 Methods
3.1 Data
This study uses data from the 2019 Korean Social Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted across households in South Korea. The survey targeted individuals aged 13 and older residing in the country at the time of the survey. The sampling framework was based on the Population and Housing Census, and a two-stage cluster sampling method was employed. In the first stage, primary sampling units were selected using probability proportional to size sampling. In the second stage, households within each primary sampling unit were chosen through systematic random sampling. Data collection occurred between May 15 and May 30, 2019, over a 16-day period by trained interviewers. Additionally, an 8-day online survey was conducted from May 15 to May 22, 2019. 36,310 individuals responded in total.
Our primary civic engagement outcome variables include participation in three types of civic associations, trust in society, and news consumption. Participation in civic associations is represented by three different binary indicators each reflecting whether respondents participated between May 15, 2018, and May 14, 2019, in any local community group, non-governmental organization (e.g. environmental or volunteer groups), or political organization. For trust in society, the Korean Social Survey asked respondents, “To what extent do you think our society is trustworthy?” with the response options: “Highly trustworthy,” “Somewhat trustworthy,” “Not very trustworthy,” and “Not trustworthy at all.” We recoded this variable as 1 if the respondent selected either of the first two options, and 0 otherwise. Finally, regarding news consumption, respondents were asked, “Have you read the news more than once every two weeks in the past month?” Binary responses were recorded separately for print and online news. We created a composite news consumption variable coded as 1 if the respondent answered “yes” to either outlet, and 0 otherwise. The sample characteristics are shown in the Appendix (Table A1).
3.2 Empirical Strategy
Exploiting the historical context in South Korea, we employ a non-parametric sharp regression discontinuity (RD) design, as developed by Calonico et al. (2014, 2020). Central to the RD analysis is the assumption that observations near the cutoff point of the running variable are comparable, and that the underlying trend should exhibit continuity at the cutoff. Therefore, selecting an appropriate bandwidth for the analysis is a critical decision. While conventional bandwidth selectors typically balance squared bias and variance of the estimator, these selectors can “lead to a non-negligible bias in the distributional approximation of the estimator” (Calonico et al. 2014, p. 2296). The RD framework we utilize addresses this issue by recentering the t-statistic with an estimate of the leading bias and rescaling it using a new standard error formula that accounts for the additional variability. This approach results in a bias-corrected RD estimator with confidence intervals that are robust to bandwidth choice (Cattaneo et al. 2019).[2]
Since high school seniors in 1996 (those born in 1978) were the first cohort affected by the nationwide mandatory community service policy, we use birth year as the running variable, with 1978 as the cutoff. Specifically, we apply a triangular weighting kernel, a first-order polynomial,[3] and an optimal mean square error bandwidth that is symmetric around the cutoff for point estimates. In addition, we use heteroskedasticity-robust nearest neighbor standard errors and a linear probability model. The validity of our RD analysis is supported by Figure A1 in the Appendix, which indicates no systematic manipulation of observations around the cutoff. We further conducted the statistical test recommended by Cattaneo et al. (2020) to verify the continuity assumption, yielding a p-value of 0.15, which supports the appropriateness of the RD approach in our case. Results from additional covariate balance tests and subgroup-specific manipulation checks are provided in the Online Supplementary Information (Table S1 and Figure S1).
Importantly, the long-term effects of mandatory community service may become evident only when its heterogeneity is properly examined through separate subgroup analyses. Therefore, in addition to analyzing the total population, we perform RD analyses separately for groups with lower and higher levels of educational attainment. Specifically, we defined lower educational attainment as having a high school diploma or less, and higher educational attainment as having college or higher degree.
4 Results
When we examined the effect of mandatory community service without discerning its heterogeneity on different education groups, no significant results were observed. While the visual representation of RD, shown in Figure 1, suggested discontinuity for the participation in political groups, formal statistical analyses in Table 1 reveal that the requirement did not affect the participation in all three civic associations, trust in society, and news consumption significantly. In Table 1, columns 1 to 3 illustrate the long-term effect of mandatory community service participation in the three civic associations respectively. The two remaining columns each shows the result from the RD analysis on trust in society and news consumption. The robust bias-corrected p-values, which tends to be more conservative measure than the conventional ones, supported the null hypotheses.
Regression discontinuity plot for the total sample. Note: Dots represent binned observations. A quadratic polynomial regression line is fitted, and a uniform kernel function is applied to weight the observations.
The effect of the mandatory community service for the total sample.
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local community group | Non-governmental group | Political group | Trust | News consumption | |
| Mandatory community service | −0.016 | 0.017 | 0.007 | −0.012 | −0.011 |
| Robust bias-corrected p-value | 0.355 | 0.146 | 0.202 | 0.833 | 0.701 |
| Bandwidth | 13.162 | 12.342 | 17.058 | 20.752 | 21.298 |
| Effective number of observations | 7,765 | 7,765 | 9,999 | 12,177 | 12,177 |
-
Note: All estimations employ a triangular kernel, three nearest-neighbor standard errors, and a first-order local polynomial. Bandwidths are selected to minimize mean squared error. Although the point estimator used is consistent and valid, the associated confidence intervals are known to be suboptimal. To address this, bias correction and rescaling are implemented to reduce coverage error rates and improve inference. Consequently, point estimates and p-values significance at the 0.05 level are reported separately, as recommended by Cattaneo et al. (2019). All models include region fixed effects.
Next, we examine whether there is discernable impact of mandatory community service based on the participant education attainment. We first looked at the higher education group, who are predicted to have lower benefits from the mandatory requirements as they can appreciate such opportunities elsewhere. The visual illustration of binned observations and fitted regression lines are shown in Figure 2, while the result from the regression analysis is presented in Table 2. In Table 2, only the likelihood of participating in political groups was shown to be impacted by the policy, with the point estimate of the effect of the mandatory community service being 1.7 percentage points, which corresponds to the discontinuity depicted in the third figure in Figure 2.
Regression discontinuity plot for the higher education group. Note: Dots represent binned observations. A quadratic polynomial regression line is fitted, and a uniform kernel function is applied to weight the observations.
The effect of the mandatory community service for higher education group.
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local community group | Non-governmental group | Political group | Trust | News consumption | |
| Mandatory community service | −0.014 | 0.004 | 0.017 | 0.011 | 0.010 |
| Robust bias-corrected p-value | 0.382 | 0.540 | 0.054 | 0.584 | 0.467 |
| Bandwidth | 15.022 | 14.802 | 11.978 | 13.908 | 16.376 |
| Effective number of observations | 5,800 | 5,800 | 4,418 | 5,124 | 6,487 |
-
Note: All estimations employ a triangular kernel, three nearest-neighbor standard errors, and a first-order local polynomial. Bandwidths are selected to minimize mean squared error. Although the point estimator used is consistent and valid, the associated confidence intervals are known to be suboptimal. To address this, bias correction and rescaling are implemented to reduce coverage error rates and improve inference. Consequently, point estimates and p-values significance at the 0.05 level are reported separately, as recommended by Cattaneo et al. (2019). All models include region fixed effects.
Furthermore, the significant effect of mandatory community service for the political group participation among higher education group is robust from the selection of model specification and the falsification test of placebo test. In Table 3, column 1 is identical to column 3 in Table 2. Columns 2 to 4 in Table 3 provide results from RD analysis with a different polynomial order and the selection of bandwidth. Specifically, columns 3 and 4 leverages second-order polynomial and columns 2 and 4 use a bandwidth that is known to minimize an approximation to the coverage error rate (CER) of the confidence interval.
Robustness test for the result on the higher education group.
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandatory community service | 0.017 | 0.024 | 0.027 | 0.036 |
| Robust bias-corrected p-value | 0.054 | 0.026 | 0.021 | 0.058 |
| Polynomial order | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Bandwidth method | MSE | CER | MSE | CER |
| Effective number of observations | 4,418 | 2,867 | 5,800 | 3,664 |
-
Note: All estimations use a triangular kernel function with three nearest-neighbor standard errors. Bandwidths in columns 1 and 3 are optimized for mean squared error, whereas those in columns 2 and 4 are chosen to minimize an approximation to the coverage error of the confidence interval. Linear polynomials are used in columns 1 and 2, and quadratic polynomials in columns 3 and 4. Column 1 represents the preferred specification for point estimation, while column 2 is preferred for statistical inference.
While the estimate reported in column 3 of Table 2 (or column 1 of Table 3) exhibits borderline statistical significance (p = 0.054) under the conventional 0.05 threshold, it is important to note that the non-parametric RD framework we adopt advocates separating point estimation from inference (Calonico et al. 2020; Cattaneo et al. 2019). By design, confidence intervals constructed using CER-optimal bandwidths have the fastest rate of coverage error decay. As Calonico et al. (2020, pp. 207–208) explain, “In the same way that MSE-optimal bandwidths deliver MSE-optimal point estimators for RD treatment effects […] CE[R]-optimal bandwidth choices deliver inference-optimal confidence intervals in the sense that their coverage error is the smallest possible given the choice of point estimator used.” Accordingly, although we prefer the specification in column 1 of Table 3 for point estimation, for inference we rely on the specification in column 2, which yields statistical significance at the 0.05 level.
The placebo test, represented in Figure 3, also suggests that the discontinuity observed in the outcome of political group participation of higher education group is not likely to be caused by other spurious correlations as other placebo cutoffs show clear null effects. Put differently, for people of higher economic status mandatory community service had no effect on participation in community groups, participation in non-governmental groups, trust, and news consumption. The only statistically significant difference was regarding participation in political groups.
Placebo test. Note: Error bars represent 95 % confidence intervals constructed using CER-optimal bandwidths for inference. The coefficient for 1978 reflects the actual treatment effect, while coefficients for other years are derived from placebo tests using alternative cutoff points in the regression discontinuity framework.
The results for the lower education group are presented in Figure 4 and Table 4. As shown in Figure 4, average participation in non-governmental organizations, political groups, levels of trust, and news consumption were lower among the lower education group. Interestingly, while we previously found that the mandatory community service policy significantly increased adult volunteering participation for this group, our findings indicate that the policy has no discernible positive or negative effect on other forms of civic engagement. As seen in Table 4, none of the coefficients were statistically significant.[4]
Regression discontinuity plot for the lower education group. Note: Dots represent binned observations. A quadratic polynomial regression line is fitted, and a uniform kernel function is applied to weight the observations.
The effect of the mandatory community service for lower education group.
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local community group | Non-governmental group | Political group | Trust | News consumption | |
| Mandatory community service | −0.024 | 0.012 | −0.001 | −0.058 | −0.047 |
| Robust bias-corrected p-value | 0.261 | 0.383 | 0.835 | 0.176 | 0.411 |
| Bandwidth | 14.764 | 16.548 | 16.634 | 21.324 | 14.562 |
| Effective number of observations | 3,078 | 3,512 | 3,512 | 4,471 | 3,078 |
-
Note: All estimations employ a triangular kernel, three nearest-neighbor standard errors, and a first-order local polynomial. Bandwidths are selected to minimize mean squared error. Although the point estimator used is consistent and valid, the associated confidence intervals are known to be suboptimal. To address this, bias correction and rescaling are implemented to reduce coverage error rates and improve inference. Consequently, point estimates and p-values significance at the 0.05 level are reported separately, as recommended by Cattaneo et al. (2019). All models include region fixed effects.
Finally, we present a visual summary of the results from this study alongside the result from Lee and Cnaan (2025). Figure 5 illustrates the 95 % confidence intervals, constructed by robust bias correction procedure, for the effect of mandatory community service on various adult civic engagement outcomes.[5] As discussed, while the requirement significantly and substantially increased the likelihood of volunteering among individuals with lower levels of education, we found no evidence of a significant impact – positive or negative – on other forms of civic engagement. The only exception was a slight positive effect on participation in political groups among individuals with higher levels of education.
The effect of mandatory community service on civic engagement outcomes. Note: The plot summarizes results from the present study (local community group, non-governmental group, political group, trust in society, news consumption) and from Lee and Cnaan (2025) (volunteering, donating). Bars represent 95 % confidence intervals for the effect of mandatory community service on each adult civic engagement outcome, using CER-optimal bandwidths for statistical inference.
5 Discussion and Conclusion
The debate over mandatory community service has produced sharply divided opinions. Critics argue that its coercive nature fundamentally limits its ability to foster lasting civic engagement, whereas proponents view it as a necessary intervention to address civic challenges. In contrast to previous studies that demonstrated mandatory community service translated into increased volunteering participation in later period in life, particularly for students who are expected to have less experiences in civic activities, the results of the present study did not find strong and clear increase in other forms of civic engagement. While we found increase in participation to political groups for higher education group, it is important to note that the effect size for political group participation is considerably smaller than that for volunteering. Although the relative increase nearly doubles the baseline rate, whether this constitutes a substantive and meaningful improvement requires further consideration that extends beyond statistical significance.
We argue that our failure to reject the null hypotheses is as informative as any statistically significant findings, offering valuable insights into the limitations of mandatory service policies in promoting broader civic engagement. The debate on mandatory community service must carefully consider its nuanced policy implications. A central concern around this educational policy has been regarding the risk that coercion may undermine intrinsic motivation, a possibility supported by social psychology literature (Sobus 1995). While mandates can provide excessive external justification, potentially diminishing voluntary civic participation after the requirement ends, there is also evidence suggesting otherwise. Research indicates that cognitive resistance to coercion varies considerably, depending on individual traits and contextual factors, with the direction of this resistance – positive or negative – shaped by these elements (Johnson et al. 2018). Moreover, repeated exposure to new faces has been shown to improve attitudes, reducing social distance between individuals (Zebrowitz et al. 2008). This aligns with the idea that schools, often considered great equalizers, can foster civic engagement through the interaction of individuals from diverse backgrounds (Lareau 2003; Morse 1989). Both positive and negative outcomes of mandatory community service remain plausible, as theoretical perspectives can be interpreted in either direction.
The process model (Wilson 2012), originally developed to explain volunteerism, can be extended to help interpret the results and implications of the present study. The model outlines three stages of engagement: antecedents, experience, and consequence. First, regarding antecedents – the factors that lead to civic engagement – both prior literature on mandatory community service and the original process model have primarily emphasized motivational and attitudinal factors that influence individuals’ decisions to engage in volunteering or other civic activities.[6] While we do not intend to downplay the importance of these subjective factors, we suggest that discussions around mandatory community service should place greater emphasis on capability or engageability. Beyond personal disposition, civic engagement requires concrete knowledge, experiences, and skills that are not innate but must be cultivated over time. The abilities necessary for living in a civil society – such as participating effectively in democratic communities, thinking critically, acting thoughtfully in a pluralistic world, and empathizing with others – must be intentionally developed (Barber 1994). This perspective aligns with the view that education helps break down barriers to public engagement (Campbell 2009) and observations that the lack of expertise played as barrier in participating volunteering for retired individuals (Lim 2024). Similar to learning a musical instrument, where early, sometimes externally motivated practice can lead to deep, intrinsic satisfaction later in life, the early cultivation of civic habits – even when initially compulsory – may foster meaningful civic participation over the long term.
The second stage of the process model, experience, focuses on how engagement transforms individuals’ “perceptions of themselves, their emotions, and their knowledge” (Wilson 2012, p. 195). In light of the South Korean context at the time, such transformational processes may help further explain why mandatory community service produced heterogeneous effects among students with different educational or civic backgrounds. Following the June Democracy Movement in 1987 and the election of a civilian president in 1992, South Korea’s civic culture and nonprofit sector began to grow significantly (Kang et al. 2015). This historical backdrop coincided with very low levels of volunteerism. Moreover, the nonprofit sector was still in its early stages, with over half of the organizations existing by 2000 founded during the 1990s (Kim 2019). Against this institutional background, in implementing a nationwide mandatory community service program, the Korean government prioritized building an administrative framework, coordinating with multiple agencies and private organizations. This approach produced a highly uniform form of mandated volunteering across the country, often lacking elaborated civic education content (Kim 2004; Kim and Jeong 2000).
In this context, and consistent with our earlier argument, students with a low civic baseline – or those with limited prior motivation or exposure – may have found even rudimentary community service programs, hastily implemented within a few years, to be novel and formative experiences. Consequently, for these students, mandatory volunteering could have translated more directly into the same form of civic engagement: volunteering participation later in life. In fact, such simple experiential learning may have been the most efficient pathway for fostering engagement. In contrast, students who already had prior civic engagement experience likely found the mandated service less transformative or stimulating. Without additional, tailored civic education efforts at the time, mandatory volunteering may have seemed redundant, merely replicating activities with which they were already familiar. As a result, these students exhibited little to no increase in future volunteering, although some modest gains were observed in other areas of civic engagement, such as political group participation, albeit with smaller effect sizes.
Taken together, these points suggest that, when evaluating the long-term civic returns of mandatory community service, it is important to consider the interaction between students’ initial civic knowledge and experience and the content of educational interventions for civic development. Doing so helps avoid the overly simplistic assumption that education serves as a “universal solvent” (Campbell 2009, p. 785). For example, when applying the implications of this study to societies with more mature democratic cultures than South Korea in the 1990s, tailoring community service experiences to students’ initial civic capacities – through adjustments to the content of service activities and the classroom environment – would likely be more effective. Moreover, this perspective suggests that future research in this field should account for divergent motivational structures and engagement patterns among students with different civic and educational backgrounds (Sung and Cho 2018).[7]
It is worth noting that even for outcomes where mandatory community service showed positive effects, the policy did not succeed in reversing the broader trend of declining civic participation. While we observed an immediate increase – evidenced by an upward shift in the RD curves – there was no indication that the overall downward trajectory in civic engagement changed for cohorts near the policy cutoff. However, at the same time, we are cautious not to frame mandatory community service merely as a temporary and ephemeral fix. It is plausible that younger cohorts, who are exposed to more mature and better-integrated service programs and not represented in our RD design, might experience stronger and more sustained civic outcomes. Investigating such possibilities would require a different identification strategy and remains as a direction for future research.
We advocate for increased attention to causal research in this domain. While the strength and value of the civic sector and civic engagement lie in their inherently voluntary nature, this characteristic does not preclude the possibility of meaningful enhancement or encouragement. Policies such as the educational intervention examined in this study, along with initiatives from local communities and nonprofit organizations, can promote civic vitality by cultivating individuals’ capacity to engage and by facilitating alignment between those willing to contribute and entities that benefit from such support. In this respect, as with other areas of intervention research, the civic sector stands to gain significantly from rigorous causal evidence.
From the outset, we have emphasized the urgency of the civic crisis confronting societies today, a crisis that demands not only immediate attention but also thoughtful and courageous action. Scholars and policymakers have long looked to education and schools as critical sites where repair might begin. Yet skepticism persists. Some argue that education merely sorts individuals within a society, lacking the transformative power needed to revitalize civic health (Nie et al. 1996). Seeking empirical insight into these debates through a natural experiment, we have deliberately resisted offering a simplistic blueprint for mandatory community service. We reject the notion of one-size-fits-all solutions. Even amid the urgency of this moment, we advocate for careful, measured deliberation, an approach that refuses to yield to either cynicism or complacency. History teaches us that decline is not destiny. As Putnam (2001) reminds us, at the close of the nineteenth century, America too faced a civic collapse. The response was not retreat but the creation of new civic institutions that reshaped the nation’s social fabric for generations. His call to reimagine those institutions for a new era resonates even more urgently today. The challenges we face are real, but as Barber (1994, p. 9) wisely observes, “crisis by definition cannot be chronic.”
We conclude by emphasizing the need for creative and evidence-based policymaking that rethinks how school settings can contribute to cultivating a more engaged public. Despite longstanding interest in this question, our understanding of how educational environments shape students’ civic capacity remains surprisingly limited. Causal evidence, such as that presented in this study, can help clarify whether school-based approaches represent a viable pathway to increased civic engagement. Psychological studies challenge the common assumption that greater external pressure inevitably leads to greater backlash. When designed effectively, mandates can do more than avoid resistance as they can actively stimulate meaningful changes in attitudes and behaviors (Festinger and Carlsmith 1959; Harmon-Jones et al. 2018). This underscores several key design questions that future research and practical implementation should address: What level of mandatory participation is effective without being counterproductive? How should civic programs be structured? And how can these interventions be aligned with students’ diverse background experiences? Addressing these questions is essential to developing school-based strategies that not only foster short-term engagement, but also support the growth of durable civic agency.
Funding source: Institute of Education Sciences
Award Identifier / Grant number: R305B200035
Funding source: James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies
Summary statistics.
| Gender | |
| Male | 49.47 % |
| Female | 50.53 % |
| Age | 46.13 (18.25) |
| Education | |
| No education | 2.59 % |
| Elementary | 7.89 % |
| Middle school | 10.51 % |
| High school | 31.99 % |
| College or more | 47.02 % |
| Household income (unit: million Korean won) | |
| More than 6 | 15.18 % |
| Between 5 and 6 | 9.76 % |
| Between 4 and 5 | 13.15 % |
| Between 3 and 4 | 17.10 % |
| Between 2 and 3 | 18.50 % |
| Between 1 and 2 | 15.06 % |
| Under 1 | 11.25 % |
| Marital status | |
| Single | 29.55 % |
| Married | 57.87 % |
| Widowed | 6.86 % |
| Divorced | 4.97 % |
| Separated | 0.76 % |
| Participate in volunteering | 16.07 % |
| Participate in donating | 25.61 % |
| Local community group | 7.62 % |
| Non-governmental group | 8.31 % |
| Political group | 1.12 % |
| Trust in society | 50.93 % |
| News consumption | 69.88 % |
| Sample size | 36,310 |
| %; Mean (SD) | |
Validating the continuity assumption for regression discontinuity. Note: Figure from Lee and Cnaan (2025). The solid line represents the local quartic polynomial density estimate for the control group (individuals born in 1977 or earlier), while the dotted line shows the estimate for the treatment group (those born in 1978 or later). The shaded regions depict the robust bias-corrected 95 % confidence intervals (Cattaneo et al. 2020). Histogram estimates are indicated by the bars.
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Supplementary Material
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