Volunteering and Citizenship: First Empirical Evidences of the Positive Impact in Brazil

Abstract

As an expanding social phenomenon, volunteering has been recognized for its potential for developing citizenship by providing opportunities for participation and social innovation, supporting public and private actions aimed at collective well-being. This study aims to analyze the relationship between volunteering and citizenship through motivations, as they help to understand what drives human behavior toward a direction. Through quantitative research, descriptive statistical techniques were used to differentiate citizen behavior from volunteers and non-volunteers, as well as structural equation modeling to relate research constructs. The results indicate an overlap of citizen behavior of volunteers over non-volunteers, as well as a positive relationship between the motivation model and attitudes towards social, political and civil rights, contributing to the understanding of these fundamental constructs for the Third Sector.