Civic and political volunteering: the mobilizing role of websites and social media in four countries

Figures & data

Table 1. Percentages for each variable across countries.

	All %	US %	UK %	France %	Canada %
Volunteering for a political party or campaign	8	11	7	8	6
Visiting website of a political party or candidate	39	45	33	37	41
Following a political party or candidate on social media	14	20	11	11	15
Volunteering for a nonprofit or charity	27	31	24	27	25
Visiting website of nonprofit or charity	55	57	54	53	58
Following a charity on social media	14	15	17	10	13
Age 25 to 34 years	17	18	17	15	17
Age 35 to 44 years	16	16	16	16	16
Age 45 to 54 years	17	17	18	17	18
Ages 55 and up	39	38	38	42	40
Lower college	18	19	10	18	26
Bachelor’s degree	24	27	27	17	24
More than a bachelor’s degree	9	14	7	9	7
Income, Quintile 2	19	22	15	24	16
Income, Quintile 3	23	17	28	25	21
Income, Quintile 4	21	24	14	19	26
Income, Quintile 5	18	18	22	16	17
Females	51	52	49	51	53

Table 2. Logistic regression for civic and political volunteering.

	Civic volunteering				Political volunteering
	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p
Visiting website of a charity	1.661	0.057	5.264	<.001
Visiting website of a political party					2.039	0.103	7.684	<.001
Following a charity on social media	0.880	0.060	2.410	<.001
Following a political party on social media					0.835	0.079	2.304	<.001
Age 25 to 34 years	-0.344	0.084	0.709	<.001	-0.346	0.113	0.708	.002
Age 35 to 44 years	-0.547	0.087	0.579	<.001	-0.679	0.121	0.507	<.001
Age 45 to 54 years	-0.958	0.089	0.384	<.001	-1.365	0.142	0.255	<.001
Ages 55 and up	-0.900	0.078	0.407	<.001	-1.224	0.117	0.294	<.001
Lower college	0.235	0.066	1.265	<.001	-0.059	0.113	0.943	.601
Bachelor’s degree	0.336	0.060	1.400	<.001	0.245	0.094	1.278	.009
More than a bachelor’s degree	0.529	0.082	1.697	<.001	0.557	0.119	1.746	<.001
Income, Quintile 2	0.011	0.078	1.011	.884	0.034	0.125	1.034	.789
Income, Quintile 3	-0.082	0.076	0.921	.278	0.045	0.123	1.046	.713
Income, Quintile 4	0.041	0.077	1.042	.594	0.142	0.124	1.153	.253
Income, Quintile 5	0.140	0.080	1.151	.080	0.292	0.126	1.339	.021
Females	-0.271	0.047	0.763	<.001	-0.515	0.076	0.598	<.001
Data collected in 2021	-0.076	0.023	0.927	.001	-0.017	0.037	0.983	.645
France	0.032	0.065	1.033	.618	0.006	0.100	1.006	.953
UK	-0.294	0.067	0.745	<.001	-0.134	0.103	0.874	.194
Canada	-0.250	0.065	0.779	<.001	-0.359	0.103	0.699	<.001
n	11,441				11,437
Nagelkerke R Square	.252				.263

The reference groups are: those aged 18 to 24 years; with a high school education or less; in the first income quintile; males; respondents from 2019; and the United States.

Table 3. Logistic regression for civic and political volunteering.

	Civic volunteering				Political volunteering
	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p
Only following charity/party on social media	1.52	0.178	4.59	<.001	1.28	0.250	3.58	<.001
Only visiting website of charity/party	1.72	0.060	5.59	<.001	2.13	0.114	8.42	<.001
Both following on social media and visiting website	2.53	0.075	12.51	<.001	2.91	0.120	18.42	<.001
Age 25 to 34 years	-0.34	0.084	0.71	<.001	-0.34	0.113	0.71	.003
Age 35 to 44 years	-0.55	0.087	0.58	<.001	-0.68	0.121	0.51	<.001
Age 45 to 54 years	-0.95	0.089	0.39	<.001	-1.34	0.141	0.26	<.001
Ages 55 and up	-0.89	0.078	0.41	<.001	-1.20	0.117	0.30	<.001
Lower college	0.24	0.065	1.28	<.001	-0.05	0.112	0.96	.685
Bachelor’s degree	0.34	0.060	1.41	<.001	0.24	0.094	1.27	.010
More than a bachelor’s degree	0.55	0.081	1.73	<.001	0.56	0.119	1.75	<.001
Income, Quintile 2	0.01	0.078	1.01	.884	0.02	0.125	1.02	.870
Income, Quintile 3	-0.09	0.075	0.91	.214	0.04	0.122	1.05	.715
Income, Quintile 4	0.03	0.076	1.03	.685	0.14	0.124	1.15	.247
Income, Quintile 5	0.14	0.080	1.15	.089	0.29	0.125	1.34	.020
Females	-0.27	0.047	0.76	<.001	-0.51	0.076	0.60	<.001
Data collected in 2021	-0.07	0.023	0.93	.001	-0.02	0.037	0.98	.657
France	0.05	0.065	1.05	.462	0.00	0.099	1.00	.962
UK	-0.28	0.066	0.76	<.001	-0.13	0.103	0.87	.191
Canada	-0.24	0.064	0.79	<.001	-0.37	0.102	0.69	<.001
n	11,493				11,489
Nagelkerke R Square	.253				.265

The reference groups are: those who neither follow nor visit the website of the charity/party; those aged 18 to 24 years; with a high school education or less; in the first income quintile; males; respondents from 2019; and the United States.

Figure 1. Marginal effects of key variables in four countries.

Table A1. Logistic regression for civic volunteering.

	US				UK				France				Canada
	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p
Visiting website of nonprofit or charity	1.827	0.114	6.214	0.000	1.717	0.121	5.565	0.000	1.502	0.106	4.491	0.000	1.611	0.118	5.009	0.000
Following a charity on social media	1.004	0.117	2.730	0.000	0.602	0.117	1.826	0.000	1.324	0.138	3.758	0.000	0.707	0.120	2.029	0.000
Age 25 to 34 years	-0.660	0.163	0.517	0.000	-0.169	0.168	0.844	0.313	0.023	0.180	1.023	0.899	-0.598	0.174	0.550	0.001
Age 35 to 44 years	-0.722	0.170	0.486	0.000	-0.491	0.176	0.612	0.005	-0.357	0.185	0.700	0.055	-0.653	0.178	0.520	0.000
Age 45 to 54 years	-1.415	0.177	0.243	0.000	-0.933	0.182	0.393	0.000	-0.480	0.187	0.619	0.010	-0.979	0.180	0.376	0.000
Ages 55 and up	-1.423	0.155	0.241	0.000	-1.059	0.163	0.347	0.000	-0.313	0.164	0.731	0.057	-0.856	0.159	0.425	0.000
Lower college	0.293	0.135	1.341	0.030	0.353	0.165	1.424	0.033	0.170	0.126	1.185	0.177	0.295	0.120	1.343	0.014
Bachelor’s degree	0.351	0.123	1.421	0.004	0.371	0.116	1.449	0.001	0.287	0.131	1.333	0.029	0.479	0.122	1.615	0.000
More than a bachelor’s degree	0.714	0.149	2.042	0.000	0.434	0.184	1.544	0.018	0.230	0.169	1.259	0.173	0.685	0.177	1.984	0.000
Income, Quintile 2	-0.080	0.155	0.923	0.608	-0.074	0.167	0.928	0.656	0.097	0.151	1.101	0.523	0.124	0.161	1.132	0.440
Income, Quintile 3	-0.056	0.165	0.945	0.734	-0.293	0.142	0.746	0.040	-0.153	0.154	0.858	0.320	0.100	0.150	1.105	0.506
Income, Quintile 4	0.362	0.155	1.436	0.019	-0.280	0.172	0.756	0.103	-0.162	0.165	0.850	0.325	0.066	0.143	1.068	0.647
Income, Quintile 5	0.504	0.164	1.655	0.002	-0.150	0.153	0.861	0.328	-0.022	0.179	0.978	0.903	0.087	0.159	1.091	0.584
Females	-0.395	0.093	0.673	0.000	-0.241	0.103	0.786	0.019	-0.300	0.095	0.741	0.002	-0.129	0.096	0.879	0.177
Data collected in 2021	0.004	0.046	1.004	0.935	-0.093	0.049	0.911	0.055	-0.075	0.047	0.928	0.110	-0.148	0.047	0.862	0.001
n	3015				2761				2791				2874
Nagelkerke R Square	.339				.244				.234				.213

The reference groups are: those aged 18 to 24 years; with a high school education or less; in the first income quintile; males; and respondents from 2019.

Table A2. Logistic regression for political volunteering.

	US				UK				France				Canada
	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p	b	S.E.	ExpB	p
Visiting website of a political party or candidate	2.129	0.205	8.408	0.000	2.228	0.216	9.280	0.000	2.106	0.199	8.218	0.000	1.665	0.212	5.288	0.000
Following a political party or candidate on social media	0.911	0.137	2.486	0.000	0.793	0.181	2.210	0.000	0.631	0.173	1.879	0.000	0.945	0.169	2.574	0.000
Age 25 to 34 years	-0.807	0.201	0.446	0.000	0.141	0.244	1.151	0.563	0.094	0.242	1.099	0.698	-0.731	0.249	0.482	0.003
Age 35 to 44 years	-0.702	0.208	0.496	0.001	-0.695	0.284	0.499	0.014	-0.628	0.271	0.534	0.020	-0.920	0.263	0.399	0.000
Age 45 to 54 years	-2.079	0.274	0.125	0.000	-0.917	0.299	0.400	0.002	-1.032	0.307	0.356	0.001	-1.266	0.285	0.282	0.000
Ages 55 and up	-1.733	0.219	0.177	0.000	-0.987	0.267	0.373	0.000	-0.728	0.244	0.483	0.003	-1.361	0.246	0.256	0.000
Lower college	-0.131	0.219	0.877	0.549	0.169	0.285	1.185	0.552	-0.077	0.211	0.925	0.713	0.095	0.225	1.099	0.673
Bachelor’s degree	0.120	0.181	1.128	0.506	0.314	0.194	1.369	0.105	0.322	0.197	1.380	0.101	0.465	0.205	1.592	0.024
More than a bachelor’s degree	0.625	0.208	1.869	0.003	0.891	0.274	2.438	0.001	-0.024	0.265	0.976	0.927	0.748	0.280	2.113	0.008
Income, Quintile 2	-0.038	0.230	0.963	0.869	0.235	0.273	1.265	0.391	0.258	0.243	1.295	0.288	-0.309	0.292	0.734	0.289
Income, Quintile 3	-0.270	0.259	0.764	0.297	0.251	0.237	1.285	0.290	0.178	0.253	1.195	0.482	-0.099	0.256	0.906	0.698
Income, Quintile 4	0.384	0.227	1.469	0.090	-0.178	0.302	0.837	0.556	0.230	0.270	1.258	0.395	-0.075	0.245	0.928	0.759
Income, Quintile 5	0.658	0.233	1.932	0.005	-0.018	0.264	0.982	0.945	0.226	0.288	1.253	0.433	0.114	0.260	1.121	0.661
Females	-0.557	0.137	0.573	0.000	-0.584	0.173	0.558	0.001	-0.465	0.156	0.628	0.003	-0.320	0.164	0.726	0.051
Data collected in 2021	0.011	0.066	1.011	0.864	0.180	0.081	1.197	0.027	-0.160	0.076	0.852	0.034	-0.140	0.081	0.869	0.083
n	3014				2759				2790				2874
Nagelkerke R Square	.344				.276				.235				.209

The reference groups are: those aged 18 to 24 years; with a high school education or less; in the first income quintile; males; and respondents from 2019.

Table A3. Logistic regression for civic and political volunteering with political interest.

	Civic volunteering				Political volunteering
	b	S.E.	ExpB	P	b	S.E.	ExpB	p
Visiting website of a charity	1.542	0.058	4.673	0.000
Visiting website of a political party					1.774	0.106	5.896	0.000
Following a charity on social media	0.832	0.060	2.298	0.000
Following a political party on social media					0.569	0.082	1.766	0.000
Age 25 to 34 years	-0.332	0.084	0.717	0.000	-0.337	0.114	0.714	0.003
Age 35 to 44 years	-0.540	0.087	0.583	0.000	-0.703	0.123	0.495	0.000
Age 45 to 54 years	-0.962	0.089	0.382	0.000	-1.436	0.143	0.238	0.000
Ages 55 and up	-0.966	0.078	0.381	0.000	-1.415	0.120	0.243	0.000
Lower college	0.219	0.066	1.245	0.001	-0.095	0.114	0.910	0.404
Bachelor’s degree	0.281	0.060	1.325	0.000	0.162	0.095	1.175	0.088
More than a bachelor’s degree	0.450	0.082	1.569	0.000	0.421	0.121	1.523	0.000
Income, Quintile 2	-0.018	0.078	0.982	0.821	-0.018	0.127	0.982	0.887
Income, Quintile 3	-0.111	0.076	0.895	0.143	0.011	0.124	1.011	0.931
Income, Quintile 4	0.005	0.077	1.005	0.946	0.099	0.125	1.104	0.429
Income, Quintile 5	0.076	0.081	1.079	0.345	0.207	0.127	1.230	0.102
Females	-0.182	0.048	0.834	0.000	-0.413	0.078	0.662	0.000
Data collected in 2021	-0.062	0.023	0.940	0.008	-0.002	0.037	0.998	0.947
France	0.143	0.066	1.153	0.030	0.147	0.101	1.158	0.148
UK	-0.243	0.067	0.785	0.000	-0.094	0.104	0.910	0.365
Canada	-0.197	0.065	0.822	0.002	-0.279	0.103	0.756	0.007
Political interest	0.281	0.028	1.324	0.000	0.557	0.052	1.746	0.000
n	11,490				11,486
Nagelkerke R Square	.263				.285

The reference groups are: those aged 18 to 24 years; with a high school education or less; in the first income quintile; males; respondents from 2019; and the United States.