Gender Differences In Volunteering Behavior: Analysis On Korean Population

With rapid trend of aging society and family disorganization, the role of private resources in strengthening social welfare activities becomes more significant. With economic development, Korean citizens’ giving culture has been settled solidly. In 2009, Korean citizen’s volunteering participation rate reached 23.9% which showed 8.5% increase compared to 2007 rate of 15.8%. Average annual volunteering time in 2009 also increased by 9.8 hours compared to 52.1 hours in 2007. However, lack of research on the factors that affect citizens’ volunteering activities in Korea has led to less systematic approach in further facilitating citizen’s active participation in social issues. This study, therefore, aims at revealing major influencing factors on citizens’ active participation. Specifically, the study focuses on how gender affects citizen’s volunteering behaviors (volunteering participation and time) by controlling for socio-demographic, psychosocial and prosocial factors. The study is based on the hypothesis that gender has difference on volunteering behaviors. It is expected to lead discussions on how non-profit organization could establish more efficient and systematic strategy on gender to foster citizens’ volunteering participation.