Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Japanese Citizen Participation in International Development Aid

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With data from the 2006 Japanese General Social Survey, this study examines factors associated with citizen participation in international development aid (IDA). In line with the literature on correlates of charitable giving of time and money, it finds that structural positions of individuals, measured by their demographic, socioeconomic and social network characteristics, are associated with the probability of citizen participation in IDA. Moreover, the study shows that variables such as English skills, measured by the ability and opportunity to use English, and the level of endorsement of Official Development Assistance projects significantly and positively predict IDA participation status. Implications of these findings are discussed for future research on charitable giving for international development in Japan and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere.

Résumé

À partir des données issues de l’enquête sociale générale de 2006 au Japon, cette étude examine les facteurs associés à la participation citoyenne dans l’aide au développement international (ADI). Tout comme la littérature existante portant sur les corrélats des dons de temps et d’argent aux œuvres de bienfaisance, elle conclut qu’il y a un lien entre la probabilité de participation citoyenne des individus à l’ADI et leur position structurelle, en termes de caractéristiques démographiques, socio-économiques et de réseau social. De plus, cette étude montre que des variables telles que les compétences en anglais, mesurées par la capacité et l’opportunité d’utiliser cette langue, ainsi que le niveau d’approbation vis à vis des projets d’aide publique au développement influencent positivement et permettent de prédire avec un bon niveau de confiance la participation à l’ADI. Les conséquences de ces conclusions sont examinées en vue de recherches à venir sur les dons de bienfaisance pour le développement international au Japon et, dans une moindre mesure, ailleurs.

Zusammenfassung

Beruhend auf Daten aus der 2006 in Japan durchgeführten allgemeinen Bevölkerungsumfrage (General Social Survey) untersucht diese Studie Faktoren in Verbindung mit der Bürgerbeteiligung an der internationalen Entwicklungshilfe. Im Einklang mit der Literatur zu Korrelaten wohltätiger Zeit- und Geldspenden kommt man zu dem Ergebnis, dass strukturelle Positionen einzelner Personen, gemessen an ihren demographischen, sozioökonomischen und sozialen Netzwerkmerkmalen, mit der Wahrscheinlichkeit zur Bürgerbeteiligung an der internationalen Entwicklungshilfe in Verbindung stehen. Des Weiteren zeigt die Studie, dass Variablen, wie englische Sprachkenntnisse, gemessen an der Fähigkeit und Gelegenheit, die englische Sprache anzuwenden, sowie das Maß an Unterstützung von Projekten der Öffentlichen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit eine wichtige und eindeutige Prognose für den Status der Beteiligung an der internationalen Entwicklungshilfe aufstellen. Es werden die Implikationen dieser Ergebnisse für zukünftige Forschungen zu wohltätigen Spenden für die internationale Entwicklung in Japan und, in weniger umfangreichem Maße, auch für andere Orte diskutiert.

Resumen

Con datos de la Encuesta Social General Japonesa de 2006, el presente estudio examina los factores asociados a la participación ciudadana en la ayuda internacional al desarrollo (IDA, del inglés international development aid). En línea con el material publicado sobre correlaciones de donaciones benéficas de tiempo y dinero, encuentra que las posiciones estructurales de los individuos, medidas por sus características demográficas, socioeconómicas y de red social, están asociadas a la probabilidad de participación ciudadana en la IDA. Asimismo, el estudio muestra que variables, tales como habilidades en inglés, medidas por la capacidad y la oportunidad de utilizar el inglés, y el nivel de respaldo de proyectos de Asistencia Oficial al Desarrollo predicen de manera significativa y positiva el estado de participación en la IDA. Se abordan las implicaciones de estos hallazgos para investigaciones futuras sobre donaciones benéficas para el desarrollo internacional en Japón, y en menor medida, en cualquier otra parte.

摘要

根据2006年日本综合社会调查的数据,本文分析了国际发展援助(IDA)中公民参与的相关因素。根据慈善时间和金钱的捐赠相关因素的文献,本文发现,根据人口、社会经济和社会网络特征衡量的个人结构位置与公民参与IDA的可能性有关。此外,本文还表明,根据运用能力和机会衡量的英语水平、对官方发展援助项目的支持程度等变量在很大程度上与IDA的参与程度成正相关。本文讨论这些调查结论对于未来日本国际发展慈善捐赠研究(以及在一定程度上供其他地区研究)的意义。.

ملخص

مع بيانات من إستطلاع الرأي الإجتماعي العام الياباني عام 2006، تبحث هذه الدراسة العوامل المرتبطة مع مشاركة المواطنين في مساعدات التنمية الدوليةIDA)). تمشيا˝مع الأعمال الأدبية على إرتباطات من العطاء الخيري من الوقت والمال، وجد أن المناصب الهيكلية للأفراد، التي تقاس بموقعهم الديموجرافي وخصائصهم الإجتماعية والإقتصادية والشبكة الاجتماعية، ترتبط مع إحتمال مشاركة المواطنين في المساعدات الدولية للتنمية (IDA). علاوة على ذلك، تظهر الدراسة أن المتغيرات مثل مهارات اللغة الإنجليزية، التي تقاس بالقدرة والفرصة لإستخدام اللغة الإنجليزية، ومستوى تأييد مشاريع مساعدة النمو الرسمية بشكل ملحوظ وإيجابي تتنبأ بحالة مشاركة المساعدات الدولية للتنمية (IDA). تمت مناقشة الآثار المترتبة على هذه النتائج للبحث في المستقبل على العطاء الخيري للتنمية الدولية في اليابان، وإلى حد أقل، في مكان آخر.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We are aware of the loose definition of ODA in our study. Precisely speaking, ODA is “Grants or loans to countries and territories on the Development Assistance Committee List of ODA Recipients (developing countries) and to multilateral agencies which are: (a) undertaken by the official sector; (b) with promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective; (c) at concessional financial terms (if a loan, having a grant element of at least 25 %)” (http://www.oecd.org/dac/).

  2. The 2006 JGSS actually asked its respondents to evaluate six statements about ODA projects. The four other statements are “Japan should decrease its aid when its financial situation worsens”; “Aid programs have not been fully explained to the Japanese people”; “The people receiving aid have not been fully informed of Japan providing the aid”; “Aid should be controlled so as to be diplomatically advantageous.” A principal components factor analysis of all six measures was conducted, yielding two significant factors with eigenvalues larger than 1.0. With the exception of the scale based on the sixth statement, every scale had a factor loading larger than 0.5 for only one factor. The scale for the last statement had the factor loading of 0.3. We characterize these factors as beliefs in the “government’s active roles in IDA” and “importance of transparency in ODA programs.” No scale loaded on both factors. As expected, the first factor is uniquely captured by the respondents’ assessment of the first two statements mentioned in the main text: “Japan’s aid to developing countries is vital”; “As an economically developed country, Japan has an obligation to help poor countries.”

  3. Both the logit and probit models are nonlinear functions of the component of a linear model. These functions are a cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the standard normal distribution for the probit model, and a CDF of the logistic distribution for the logit model. In other words, the probit model is based on nonlinear transformations of probabilities of an event happening (or a characteristic being present) into Z scores, while the logit model is based on transformations of probabilities into logit scores. Z scores in the probit model and logit scores in the logit model are then predicted linearly. The difference in coefficients estimated from these models is thus due to the distributions of error terms. The error variance is assumed to be one in the probit model, and π 2/3 in the logit model. The logistic coefficient exceeds the probit coefficient by a factor of about \(1.8 (\approx \sqrt {\pi^{2}/3}).\) For this reason, statisticians suggest that one should divide the logit coefficient by 1.8 to make the logit and probit coefficients comparable (e.g., Pampel 2000). In practice, though, probit and logit regression models produce similar estimates.

References

  • Atkinson, A. B. (2009). Giving overseas and public policy. Journal of Public Economics, 93(5–6), 647–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, A. B., Backus, P. G., Micklewright, J., Pharoah, C., & Schnepf, S. V. (2012). Charitable giving for overseas development: UK trends over a quarter century. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A: Statistics in Society, 175(1), 167–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekkers, R., & Schuyt, T. N. M. (2008). And who is your neighbor? Explaining the effect of religion on charitable giving and volunteering. Review of Religious Research, 50(1), 74–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011a). A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(5), 924–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011b). Who gives? A literature review of predictors of charitable giving. Part one: Religion, education, age, and socialization. Voluntary Sector Review, 2(3), 337–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brehm, J., & Rahn, W. (1997). Individual-level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science, 41(3), 999–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, A. (2005). Does social capital make you generous? Social Science Quarterly, 86(1), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, E., & Ferris, J. M. (2007). Social capital and philanthropy: An analysis of the impact of social capital on individual giving and volunteering. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 36(1), 85–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, W.-C. (2005). Determinants of donations: Empirical evidence from Taiwan. The Developing Economies, 43(2), 217–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demick, B. (2012, December 23). Hawkish leaders take over in N. Asia. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 27, 2012 from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/23/world/la-fg-asia-nationalism-20121223/2.

  • Edwards, W. D. (1989). Modern Japan through its weddings: Gender, person, and society in ritual portrayal. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. (1997). Working for nothing: The supply of volunteer labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 15(1), S140–S166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukada, T. (2010). Japan follows other Asian countries in making English compulsory at elementary level. The Japan Times. Retrieved July 31, 2012 from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20100629i1.html.

  • Greene, W. H. (2012). Econometric analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddad, M. A. (2004). Community determinates of volunteer participation and the promotion of civic health: The case of Japan. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33(3), 8S–31S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haddad, M. A. (2011). A state-in-society approach to the nonprofit sector: Welfare services in Japan. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 22(1), 26–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirata, K. (2002). Civil society in Japan: The growing role of NGOs and Tokyo’s aid and development policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ICPSR. (2006). Japanese General Social Survey (#25181). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor].

  • Irwin, K. (2009). Prosocial behavior across cultures: The effects of institutional versus generalized trust. In S. R. Thye & E. Lawler (Eds.), Altruism and prosocial behavior in groups (Advances in group processes) (Vol. 26, pp. 165–198). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

  • Kawato, Y., Pekkanen, R., & Yamamoto, H. (2011). State and civil society in Japan. In A. Gaunder (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of Japanese politics (pp. 117–129). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaMay, C. L. (2009). Exporting press freedom. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. (2011). Understanding Japan’s international development NGO policy: Domestic interpretations, identities, and interests. Asian Politics & Policy, 3(4), 527–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y., & Chang, C. (2007). Who gives what to charity? Characteristics affecting donation behavior. Social Behavior and Personality, 35(9), 1173–1180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y. J., & Moon, S. G. (2011). Mainstream and ethnic volunteering by Korean immigrants in the United States. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 22(4), 811–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lunsing, W. M. (2001). Beyond common sense: Sexuality and gender in contemporary Japan. Kegan Paul: London & New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsunaga, Y. (2007). To give, or not to give; to volunteer, or not to volunteer, that is the question: Evidence on Japanese philanthropic behavior revealed by the JGSS-2005 data set. Nihon-ban General Social Surveys Kenkyu Ronbunshu (Japanese General Social Surveys monographs) (Vol. 6, pp. 69–82). Osaka: Osaka University of Commerce.

  • Mesch, D. J. (2010). Women give 2010: New research about women and giving. Indianapolis, IN: Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklewright, J., & Schnepf, S. (2009). Who gives charitable donations for overseas development? Journal of Social Policy, 38(2), 317–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pampel, F. C. (2000). Logistic regression: A primer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pear, R. (1989, June 27). U.S. urges Japan to assume wider global responsibility. The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/27/business/us-urges-japan-to-assume-wider-global-responsibility.html.

  • Pekkannen, R. (2003). Molding Japanese civil society. In F. J. Schwartz & S. J. Pharr (Eds.), The state of civil society in Japan (pp. 116–134). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollard, V. K. (1996). Entering global civil society: Japan’s ODA policy-making milieu from June 1992. Japanese Studies, 16(2–3), 35–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimann, K. (2003). Building global civil society from the outside in? Japanese international development NGOs, the state, and international norms. In F. J. Schwartz & S. J. Pharr (Eds.), The state of civil society in Japan (pp. 298–315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimann, K. (2010). The rise of Japanese NGOs: Activism from above. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straume, S., & Odèen, M. (2010). International and domestic altruism: A study among the adult population in Norway. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(3), 618–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi, H. (2013). The influence of generalized trust on volunteering in Japan. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(1), 127–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi, H., & Marshall, G. A. (2012). Formal volunteering and charitable giving in Japan: The roles of social trust and institutional trust. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. doi:10.1007/s11266-012-9328-3].

  • The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. (2013). Japan Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved December 27, 2012 from http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/1431-28e.htm.

  • Wang, L., & Graddy, E. (2008). Social capital, volunteering, and charitable giving. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 19(1), 23–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiepking, P. (2010). Democrats support international relief and the upper class donates to art? How opportunity, incentives and confidence affect donations to different types of charitable organizations. Social Science Research, 39(6), 1073–1087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. (2000). Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 215–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J., & Musick, M. (1997). Who cares? Toward an integrated theory of volunteer work. American Sociological Review, 62(5), 694–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamakoshi, A. (1994). The changing face of NGOs in Japan. Japan Economic Institute Report, 37A(8–9), 30. Retrieved November 28, 2012 from http://www.gdrc.org/ngo/jpngo-face.html.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS) are designed and carried out by the JGSS Research Center at Osaka University of Commerce (Joint Usage/Research Center for Japanese General Social Surveys accredited by Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), in collaboration with the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Louisville, 103 Lutz Hall, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Hiromi Taniguchi & Brittany Buttry-Watson

Authors
  1. Hiromi Taniguchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brittany Buttry-Watson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiromi Taniguchi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Taniguchi, H., Buttry-Watson, B. Japanese Citizen Participation in International Development Aid. Voluntas 25, 1091–1110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-013-9394-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-013-9394-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation