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Fifteen Volunteering, geography and welfare: a multilevel investigation of geographical variations in voluntary action

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Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between individual and area characteristics and the probability that an individual will become a ‘committed volunteer’. According to the General Household Survey, a ‘committed volunteer’, is someone who is engaged in voluntary activity on at least 11 days in a year. The chapter describes the data source used and the modelling strategy developed. The resultant models allow the assessment of the proportion of total variation occurring at each of the levels and provide some indication of the relative importance of each explanatory variable in accounting for this variation. The chapter discusses the results from a multilevel analysis of the determinants of volunteering. It explains why this approach yields novel insights and discusses the practical implications of the results. The chapter concludes that, on the basis of this analysis, there is some evidence that geography matters to volunteering — but not at the scale of regions, and certainly not as much as individual socioeconomic characteristics.

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between individual and area characteristics and the probability that an individual will become a ‘committed volunteer’. According to the General Household Survey, a ‘committed volunteer’, is someone who is engaged in voluntary activity on at least 11 days in a year. The chapter describes the data source used and the modelling strategy developed. The resultant models allow the assessment of the proportion of total variation occurring at each of the levels and provide some indication of the relative importance of each explanatory variable in accounting for this variation. The chapter discusses the results from a multilevel analysis of the determinants of volunteering. It explains why this approach yields novel insights and discusses the practical implications of the results. The chapter concludes that, on the basis of this analysis, there is some evidence that geography matters to volunteering — but not at the scale of regions, and certainly not as much as individual socioeconomic characteristics.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of tables, figures, maps and plates v
  4. Notes on contributors vii
  5. Foreword: Beyond the shadow state? xii
  6. Contemporary landscapes of welfare: the ‘voluntary turn’? 1
  7. A ‘new institutional fix’? The ‘community turn’ and the changing role of the voluntary sector 15
  8. Renewal or relocation? Social welfare, voluntarism and the city 33
  9. Voluntarism and new forms of governance in rural communities 53
  10. New times, new relationships: mental health, primary care and public health in New Zealand 73
  11. Informal and voluntary care in Canada: caught in the Act? 91
  12. Competition, adaptation and resistance: (re)forming health organisations in New Zealand’s third sector 115
  13. The difference of voluntarism: the place of voluntary sector care homes for older Jewish people in the United Kingdom 135
  14. Values, practices and strategic divestment: Christian social service organisations in New Zealand 153
  15. Faith-based organisations and welfare provision in Northern Ireland and North America: whose agenda? 173
  16. Government restructuring and settlement agencies in Vancouver: bringing advocacy back in 191
  17. Developing voluntary community spaces and Ethnicity in Sydney, Australia 209
  18. The voluntary spaces of charity shops: workplaces or domestic spaces? 231
  19. The changing landscape of voluntary sector counselling in Scotland 247
  20. Volunteering, geography and welfare: a multilevel investigation of geographical variations in voluntary action 267
  21. Reflections on landscapes of voluntarism 285
  22. Index 295
Landscapes of voluntarism
This chapter is in the book Landscapes of voluntarism
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781847421609-018

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of tables, figures, maps and plates v
  4. Notes on contributors vii
  5. Foreword: Beyond the shadow state? xii
  6. Contemporary landscapes of welfare: the ‘voluntary turn’? 1
  7. A ‘new institutional fix’? The ‘community turn’ and the changing role of the voluntary sector 15
  8. Renewal or relocation? Social welfare, voluntarism and the city 33
  9. Voluntarism and new forms of governance in rural communities 53
  10. New times, new relationships: mental health, primary care and public health in New Zealand 73
  11. Informal and voluntary care in Canada: caught in the Act? 91
  12. Competition, adaptation and resistance: (re)forming health organisations in New Zealand’s third sector 115
  13. The difference of voluntarism: the place of voluntary sector care homes for older Jewish people in the United Kingdom 135
  14. Values, practices and strategic divestment: Christian social service organisations in New Zealand 153
  15. Faith-based organisations and welfare provision in Northern Ireland and North America: whose agenda? 173
  16. Government restructuring and settlement agencies in Vancouver: bringing advocacy back in 191
  17. Developing voluntary community spaces and Ethnicity in Sydney, Australia 209
  18. The voluntary spaces of charity shops: workplaces or domestic spaces? 231
  19. The changing landscape of voluntary sector counselling in Scotland 247
  20. Volunteering, geography and welfare: a multilevel investigation of geographical variations in voluntary action 267
  21. Reflections on landscapes of voluntarism 285
  22. Index 295
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