Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Participation in Volunteer Activities
2025 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 3-13
Details
2025 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 3-13
Abstract: In Japan, the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, with subsequent waves of infection that peaked during July 2020 and September 2020. To identify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of people who participated in volunteer activities and the features of these activities, we used data from nationwide surveys collected in March 2019, February 2020, and October 2020. Compared with those before the pandemic (March 2019 and February 2020), fewer people participated in volunteer activities during October 2020 due to pandemic-associated cancellation of events and other restraints regarding volunteering. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many volunteer experiences were conducted online and were unaffiliated with an organization. Almost all of the participants in these activities had been active volunteers prior to the pandemic.
1. Introduction
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people participated in volunteer activities, including delivering medication from pharmacies, setting up street food tables, and providing crafts packs for families with children1),2),3). In addition, we saw many mass media reports of new at-home volunteer activities, such as creating personalized educational videos for children and making masks. Many of these activities did not need to be associated with existing organizations or to occur a particular place or during set hours. This new type of volunteer activities—so-called informal or online volunteering—might have encouraged the recruitment of non-volunteers because of their lower obstacles in terms of financial and time costs4),5). Conversely, to prevent coronavirus infection, many non-profit and non-governmental organizations, such as environmental groups, had to cancel events that relied on volunteer support 6). Such cancellations might have led to a decrease in volunteer participation.
We wondered what effect the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic had on volunteer participation, especially that of novices who had never volunteered before. Whereas many people might have felt compelled to help during this crisis, others might have hesitated or declined to act because of fear of infection. Because many volunteer opportunities typically provided through various organizations were unavailable, their usual volunteers might have instead chosen to join online or non-organizational activities. In summary, our research questions were: Do emergency situations actually promote volunteer activity participation? And do informal and online volunteering increase volunteer participation? These possibilities are conceptually promising1),2),3),4),5), but the actual phenomena have not been examined.
In this study, we compared participation in volunteer activities before the COVID-19 pandemic with that afterward. In particular, we assessed the prior volunteer experience of those who volunteered during the pandemic. Our results indicate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation in volunteer activities and conditions regarding participation in informal and online opportunities.
2. Methods
In Japan, the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. The number of people infected daily with COVID-19 was less than 20 in February 2020 but rose to more than 500 in April 2020. The government declared a national state of emergency from 7 April to 25 May 2020. The second wave of infection peaked during July through August 2020, when about 1000 people per day were infected, and waned in September 20207). A third wave of infection started in November 2020, with about 2000 people per day infected8).
During the pandemic, national and many local governments asked facilities, shops, and restaurants to close or to restrict their hours of operation. People were recommended to avoid the ‘three Cs’—closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. Due to fear of infection, some people found it difficult to go out and buy food. Children could not go to school and had to stay home. Almost everyone wore a mask, but the commercial supply of masks was insufficient to meet the demand.
2-2 Survey
We performed nationwide surveys at three time points—one year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, just before, and eight months afterward. The first two surveys happened to be designed for different research projects. The first survey (t1) was conducted 19–22 March 2019. Sampling was based on regional (prefectural) population composition as determined by the National Census of 2015. Uniform sampling was applied to gender and age (19–71 years) groups. Questionnaires soliciting data on participation in volunteer activities, demographic features, and psychological elements were disseminated and data collected by using an online system (INTAGE Inc., Tokyo, Japan). This system presented the questionnaire as a webpage, and participants used personal devices to respond via the internet. The response rate was 25% (25,438 questionnaires sent; 6266 valid responses received).
The second survey (t2) ran 26–28 February 2020 and gathered data describing changes in volunteer participation and elements related to volunteering. We used the same online system (INTAGE Inc.) as for t1 to disseminate and collect the t2 questionnaires. We sent the questionnaire to all available t1 respondents; and the t2 response rate was 71% (5730 questionnaires sent; 4047 valid responses received). Because some t1 respondents withdrew from the online system, fewer t2 questionnaires were sent (5730) than the number of t1 questionnaires received (6266).
We administered a third survey (t3) during 22–26 October 2020 to examine not only changes in participation in and elements related to volunteering but also volunteerism in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; t3 occurred eight months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. We chose this time frame because of predictions that the pandemic might subside after November. We again used the same online dissemination and data collection system (INTAGE Inc.) as for t1 and t2. The t3 questionnaire was presented to the same respondents as t2 and yielded a response rate of 86% (4000 questionnaires sent; 3433 valid responses received). The number of t3 questionnaires sent (4000) was lower than the number of t2 questionnaires received (4047), due to the withdrawal of t2 participants from the online survey system.
2-3 Data
The three surveys included ten main and seven additional items, and the questions/scoring are summarized in Table 1. Participation (included in all three surveys) addressed
Table 1. Survey questions
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Participation |
0: Did not participate in volunteer activities from April 2018 (t1); from April 2019 (t2); from March 2020 (t3) 1: Did participate in volunteer activities from April 2018 (t1); from April 2019 (t2); from March 2020 (t3). Volunteer activities (t3) excluded those developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| COVID-19 Participation (t3) |
0: Did not participate in volunteer activities developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 1: Did participate in volunteer activities developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Cancellation (t3) | An event with volunteer activities in which you planned to participate was cancelled because of COVID-19. 1: No; 2: Yes; 3: Did not plan to participate |
| Declined to Participate (t3) | You declined to participate in volunteer activities because of COVID-19. 1: No; 2: Yes; 3: Did not plan to participate |
| COVID-19 Volunteering (t3) | For each of the following nine activities, 0: Did not participate; 1: Did participate. (1) Making and delivering masks or faceguards; (2) Creating and distributing educational videos for children; (3) Creating and distributing entertaining videos for children; (4) Creating and distributing videos and websites that are useful for people who are stuck at home; (5) Helping organizations go online; (6) Buying and delivering; (7) Creating and publishing a list of restaurants that have started take-out; (8) Providing meals (e.g., home delivery; children’s cafeteria); (9) Others |
| Organization (t3) | For each of the nine activities above; if the answer is 1, did you: 1: Participate on your own without joining an organization; 2: Participate with your family without joining an organization; 3: Participate with friends or acquaintances without joining an organization; 4: Participate after joining an organization; 5: Participate through your employer; 6: Others |
| Gender | 0: Female; 1: Male |
| Age (years) | Answer as a number. |
| Table 1. Survey questions (Continued) | |
| Item | Description |
| Annual household income (×10,000 JPY) | 1: <100; 2: 100 to <200; 3: 200 to <300; 4: 300 to <400; 5: 400 to <500; 6: 500 to <600; 7: 600 to <700; 8: 700 to <800; 9: 800 to <900; 10: 900 to <1000; 11: 1000 to <1200; 12: 1200 to <1500; 13: 1500 to <2000; 14: ≥2000 |
| Educational background (highest level completed) (t1) | 1: Junior high school; 2: High school; 3: Junior college; 4: Technical college; 5: Vocational school; 6: University; 7: Graduate (Master’s); 7: Graduate (Ph.D.) |
| Leisure time (hours/week) | The time you have available to spend in activities others than work and household chores. Answer in numbers. |
| Time at home (t3) |
Since March 2020, are you spending more time at home than you used to? Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7. 1: Average increase of about 10 hours/day; 2: average increase of about 5 hours/day; 3: average increase of about 3 hours/day; 4: average increase of about 2 hours/day; 5: average increase of about 1 hours/day; 6: almost no change; 7: decrease. |
| Subjective norm |
(1) Most people who are important to you approve of your participation in volunteer activities. (2) Most people who are important to you think you should participate in volunteer activities. (3) You think a lot of people who are now participating in volunteer activities. Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7, where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. We used the average of the three answers in t3 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88). |
| Moral norm |
You think you should participate in volunteer activities. Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7, where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. |
| Empathy |
(1) Before deciding things, you listen to everyone’s opinions. (2) When trying to understand what your friends are doing, you often imagine your friends’ perspectives. (3) When you get angry at a partner; you often try to see things from that person’s point of view. Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7, where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. We used the average of the three answers in t3 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.72). |
| Table 1. Survey questions (Continued) | |
| Item | Description |
| Altruism |
(1) You think it is important that you help others. (2) You think it is important for you to be useful to society. Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7, where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. We used the average of the three answers in t3 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.85). |
| Fear of infection (t3) |
(1) You definitely want to avoid getting infected with the COVID-19, because you are worried about your health. (2) You definitely want to avoid becoming a source of infection and spreading COVID-19 because it will harm the health of others. (3) If you get infected with the COVID-19, you think you will be criticized by those around you, so you definitely want to avoid infection. (4) You definitely want to avoid spreading COVID-19 as a source of infection because you think that other infected people will be criticized by those around them. Scaled variable ranging from 1 to 7, where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. We used the average of the four answers (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89). |
(t1), (t2), and (t3) refer to tests 1–3, respectively; (t1) was conducted in 19–22 March 2019, (t2) in 26–28 February 2020, and (t3) in 22–26 October 2020.
volunteer activities, which were grouped into the following nine categories: (1) litter collection, (2) environmental preservation, such as of natural habitats and water quality; (3) farmwork, including agricultural and forestry efforts; (4) welfare activities; (5) community-development activities; (6) educational activities; (7) emergency support in times of disaster, (8) ongoing support in disaster areas; and (9) other.
The COVID-19 Participation item (t3 only) focused on volunteer engagement in response to the pandemic. The two variables of Cancellation and Declined to Participate gauged the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation in volunteer activities. The two variables of COVID-19 Volunteering and Organization (t3 only) solicited details regarding volunteer activities in response to COVID-19—the types of activities in which a respondent participated and whether a respondent joined an organization so that they could participate in volunteer activities. The nine types of COVID-19 Volunteering were derived from several reports1),2),3) and mass media coverage, which identified these volunteer activities but did not record their volume.
We selected the nine variables following Participation in Table 1 (Gender through Altruism, except for Time at Home) as typical factors among the demographic and psychological elements. Although Subjective Norm and Moral Norm are not strong predictors of traditional volunteering9), we felt that these variables might influence participation in volunteer activities, because great responsibility or expectation from others (such as neighbors, family, and friends) to contribute to their community could promote volunteer activities, particularly during a crisis. Educational Background was surveyed only at t1 because we deemed it unlikely to change during the three surveys. We used the values from t3 for the remaining demographic and psychological elements.
Time at Home is one means for assessing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteerism. Prohibitions regarding public excursions and recommendations for working online would increase a respondent’s time spent at home. This situation could promote volunteer activities that could be done at home, such as making masks and creating videos.
Fear of Infection (t3 only)—the last variable in Table 1—might have made a respondent reluctant to go out and meet people. Therefore, a respondent with a strong fear of infection would be disinclined to participate in volunteer activities.
2-4 Logistic Regression Analysis
We applied logistic regression analysis to distinguish respondents who participated in volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic from those involved in other volunteer activities. The demographic and psychological elements and Fear of Infection were used as independent variables. The Cox–Snell R2 values indicate whether the variables describe participation in volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and provide a pseudo-coefficient of determination.
3. Results
3-1 Participation in Volunteer Activities in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The rate of participation in volunteer activities before the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan (t1 and t2) was approximately 14%, but it decreased to 9% afterward (t3); the t3 rate included both traditional volunteer activities and novel opportunities (e.g., informal, online) that arose in response to the pandemic (Figure 1). These data indicate that the number of people who volunteered during the COVID-19 pandemic was approximately 60% of that before. The t3 participation rates reflect participant numbers for only eight months (i.e., from March to October 2022) rather than a full year (as in t1/t2) and therefore may be lower. However, many respondents regularly participated in volunteer activities multiple times each year. We surmise that the rate of respondents who participated in volunteer activities (t3) is approximately the same between eight months and one year.
Approximately 3% of respondents could not participate in volunteer activities due to pandemic-associated cancellation of an event, or they declined to participate because of the COVID-19 pandemic (shaded area in Figure 1). The total rate of respondents who participated in volunteer activities and did not participate because of cancellation or by choice was nearly equal to the rate of respondents who participated in volunteer activities during t1 and t2. These results imply that the COVID-19 pandemic did in fact prevent some people from participating in volunteer activities.
In response to increased demands during the pandemic, many respondents started making and delivering masks and faceguards (Figure 2). The second most popular activity was creating and distributing videos and websites that were useful for people who were stuck at home. Approximately 42% of activities developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were performed without affiliation with an organization (Figure 3).
Figure 1. Rate of participation in volunteer activities
Figure 2. Volunteer activities for the COVID-19 pandemic
Figure 3. Participation in pandemic-prompted volunteer activities and association with an organization
Figure 4. Participation in traditional volunteer activities prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and in those prompted by the pandemic
Figure 5. Participation in both traditional volunteer activities and those prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic
Table 2. Descriptive statistics (t3)
| Minimum | Maximum | Average | Standard deviation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participation | 0 | 1 | 0.09 | 0.29 |
| COVID-19 Participation | 0 | 1 | 0.16 | 0.37 |
| Gender | 0 | 1 | 0.54 | 0.50 |
| Age (years) | 19 | 71 | 49.92 | 13.30 |
| Annual household income | 1 | 14 | 6.05 | 3.15 |
| Educational background | 1 | 8 | 4.25 | 1.90 |
| Leisure time (hour/week) | 0 | 56 | 34.65 | 16.50 |
| Time at home | 1 | 7 | 4.68 | 1.78 |
| Subjective norm | 1 | 7 | 3.58 | 1.45 |
| Moral norm | 1 | 7 | 3.57 | 1.61 |
| Empathy | 1 | 7 | 4.22 | 0.97 |
| Altruism | 1 | 7 | 5.01 | 1.09 |
| Fear of infection | 1 | 7 | 5.24 | 1.18 |
The data for each variable above reflect 3114 respondents, except for COVID-19 Participants (n = 289).
Table 3. Average values for factors regarding volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and traditional volunteer opportunities (t3)
| Activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic | Traditional activities | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | 0.56 | 0.62 | |
| Age (years) | 47.77 | 55.34 | ** |
| Annual household income | 7.15 | 6.60 | |
| Educational background | 4.79 | 4.60 | |
| Leisure time (hours/week) | 34.79 | 34.59 | |
| Time at home | 3.70 | 4.31 | * |
| Subjective norm | 5.15 | 5.06 | |
| Moral norm | 5.55 | 5.26 | |
| Empathy | 5.09 | 4.74 | ** |
| Altruism | 5.74 | 5.62 | |
| Fear of infection | 5.46 | 5.52 |
* P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01
Most of the respondents who participated in volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic had previous volunteer experience (t1 or t2). Only 13% of the activities developed in response to the pandemic were performed by novice volunteers (Figure 4). Novice volunteers participated in traditional activities at almost same rate (18%) as newly developed opportunities. Volunteer activities that arose in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., informal, online) were no more likely to encourage participation by novice volunteers than were other, traditional opportunities.
Respondents who participated in pandemic-prompted volunteer activities often also participated in traditional volunteer activities. In particular, 83% of activities that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic were performed in parallel with traditional volunteer activities (Figure 5). In contrast, almost half of the traditional activities were completed by volunteers that participated only in that type of event.
3-2 Characteristics of Participants in Volunteer Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The rate of participation in all volunteer activities (t3) was 0.09, and the proportion of respondents who participated in activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic relative to all participants in volunteer activities (t3) was 0.16 (Table 2). The remaining variables are summarized in Table 2.
Compared with those who participated in only traditional volunteer opportunities, respondents who volunteered in pandemic-prompted activities were more likely to be younger, have greater increases in the time spent at home, and to feel strongly empathic (Table 3).
The factors of Age, Moral norm, and Empathy were significant in logistic regression analyses on participants in volunteer activities developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic compared with those involved in traditional activities only (Table 4). Although this analysis showed that Age, Moral norm, and Empathy were relatively important regarding participating in volunteer activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cox–Snell R2 was quite low (0.09). Therefore, these factors did not definitively differentiate participants in volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic from those in other volunteer activities.
4. Discussion
Although some respondents began their volunteerism because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many traditional volunteer activities were cancelled or gathered few participants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic-induced decrease in the number of volunteers exceeded the increase due to new volunteers that responded to this national emergency. As a result, the total number of respondents participating in volunteer activities decreased once the pandemic started.
Table 4. Logistic regression analysis on volunteer activities during the COVID-19 pandemic (t3)
| B | Exp(B) | P | VIF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Constant) | –1.38 | 0.25 | ||
| Gender | 0.29 | 1.34 | 1.11 | |
| Age (years) | –0.03 | 0.97 | ** | 1.11 |
| Annual household income | 0.05 | 1.05 | 1.07 | |
| Educational background | –0.06 | 0.95 | 1.09 | |
| Leisure time (hours/week) | 0.01 | 1.01 | 1.05 | |
| Time at home | –0.16 | 0.85 | 1.14 | |
| Subjective norm | –0.49 | 0.61 | 2.61 | |
| Moral norm | 0.54 | 1.72 | * | 2.87 |
| Empathy | 0.55 | 1.74 | * | 1.41 |
| Altruism | –0.01 | 1.00 | 2.29 | |
| Fear of infection | -0.30 | 0.74 | 1.70 | |
| Cox–Snell R2 | 0.09 | |||
| −2 log likelihood | 230.14 | |||
| Number of samples | 289 |
* P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01
Almost half of the volunteer activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic were performed in absence of an affiliation with an organization, and one-third of the pandemic-associated activities were related to web or online work. These data indicate that informal or online volunteer opportunities that needed no institutional affiliation, defined project site, or time stipulations accounted for a substantial portion of volunteer activities during the pandemic. These activities were expected to entice the participation of novice volunteers4),5). However, we found that almost all pandemic-driven activities were done by respondents who had already participated in volunteer opportunities prior to the pandemic. In addition, almost all of the pandemic-prompted events were completed in parallel with traditional volunteer activities. Furthermore, although age, increased time at home, and level of empathy differed between respondents who participated in pandemic-driven volunteer activities compared with traditional activities, these factors were weak predictors for distinguishing between these two groups of participants.
Our current results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic did not induce non-volunteers to newly participate in volunteer activities any more strongly than did non-emergency situations, even though many of the pandemic-driven activities were informal or online opportunities. Whereas these types of volunteerism frequently failed to entice novices to begin volunteering, experienced volunteers often opted to pursue informal or online opportunities. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was an emergency situation. The effects of informal or online volunteer opportunities on the recruiting of non-volunteers might differ between emergency and non-emergency conditions. Additional studies are needed to clarify this point.
5. Conclusion
We compared the number of respondents who participated in volunteer activities at three time points—one year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, just before, and eight months afterward. We also evaluated the numbers of respondents who participated in volunteer activities developed in response to the pandemic and those who participated only in traditional volunteer opportunities.
Through its effects on event cancellations and volunteers’ decisions to decline to participate, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly decreased the number of respondents who participated in volunteer activities. Almost all volunteer activities developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were performed by respondents who had already participated in traditional volunteer opportunities prior to the pandemic. Demographic features did not differ markedly between respondents who took part in pandemic-prompted activities and those volunteering in traditional activities. Although many pandemic-driven volunteer activities were informal or online opportunities, the COVID-19 pandemic did not encourage non-volunteers to participate in the new types of volunteer activities generated in response to this emergency.
Corresponding Author
Yasuhumi MORI
Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
E-mail: mori-y@nies.go.jp
Received: 8 July 2024 Accepted: 21 November 2024
©日本環境共生学会(JAHES) 2025
We express our sincere appreciation to the respondents who kindly participated in the three surveys. This study was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18H01657.
