Donating Time or Money? The Effects of Religiosity and Social Capital on Civic Engagement in Qatar

Abstract

Few studies have examined the role of religiosity and social capital on civic engagement in the context of a Muslim country. In this paper, we explore the impact of religiosity and social capital on charitable donations and volunteerism in Qatar. Drawing on a nationally representative survey from Qatar, we consider various attitudinal and behavioral measures for capturing religiosity and social capital. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of demographic variables, behavioral measures have a stronger effect than attitudes. Individuals who regularly perform daily prayers are more likely to donate than those individuals who simply describe themselves as religious. Similarly, individuals who are more active in their neighborhood engagement are more likely to volunteer than those who merely report high levels of social trust. These results suggest that when it comes to the relationship between religiosity, social capital and civic engagement, individual behavior is much more predictive than attitudes alone. We also find that even in the case of Qatar, where citizen wealth has rapidly increased in the last few decades, there is little evidence of substitution effects: citizens do not appear to trade-off or substitute between time and money. Instead, more religious and active citizens are likely to do both.

How Does Religion Affect Giving to Outgroups and Secular Organizations? A Systematic Literature Review

“…We admit that religiosity measures such as identity, values, norms, and service attendance alongside private ritual practices are highly correlated and difficult to separate. Yet, our studies note enough distinctions between these categories to require a third independent mechanism, as these studies found contradictory results in how prayer-as the most commonly measured private religious ritual-affects giving to the outgroup (Diop et al 2018;Greenway et al 2018;Thunstrom 2020). Thunstrom (2020) shows there are actually two mechanisms in how prayer affects giving using experimental design.…”

“…To measure this form of religiosity, the studies used scales such as the family environment scale (FES), the supernatural belief scale, and other self-reported Likert-scales that range from 1 (not religious) to 10 (very religious). Studies also incorporated various dimensions of religiosity such as practice, belief, and experience, as well as the consequence or importance of religion in the participants' lives (Dilmaghani 2018;Diop et al 2018). A few studies also measured religiosity by asking if individuals followed specific religious practices such as keeping Shabbat or Kosher (Sansani and Rozental 2018).…”

“…In Islam, for example, charitable giving (zakat) is one of the five major pillars of the faith and constitutes an essential faith practice and duty to God, requiring the faithful to give to those in need (Carabain and Bekkers 2012). At the same time, the faith may also discourage public displays of giving that might lead to some individuals downplaying their religious giving (Diop et al 2018). Therefore, Muslims across many cultures have established formal and informal practices to nurture the institution of charity within their local communities as well as broader international communities (Jamal et al 2019;Maarouf 2012).…”

“…Congregations with a high number of immigrants, as well as those who have hosted a missionary or international speaker, reported an increased donation to international causes. Furthermore, studies show that other variables such as age, education, employment status, gender, partner's religiosity, parental giving to both religious and secular organizations, and income correlate with religiosity variables determine the effect of religion on external giving (Diop et al 2018;James and Sharpe 2007;Lemay and Bates 2013;Reitsma et al 2006;Showers et al 2011).…”

“…Findings, however, are mixed when it comes to the influence of religion on secular giving. While some scholars provide theoretical and empirical evidence for the positive influence of religion on secular giving, others find the opposite effect or no effect at all (Arikan and Bloom 2019;Diop et al 2018;Eckel and Grossman 2004;Hill and Vaidyanathan 2011;Ottoni-Wilhelm 2010;Wiepking et al 2014;Wuthnow 1990). To date, an overview that maps the existing knowledge about these relationships is lacking amidst the vast reviews on the effect of religion on prosociality or giving in general (Bekkers and Wiepking 2011;Preston et al 2010).…”