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Mainstream and Ethnic Volunteering by Korean Immigrants in the United States

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Abstract

Asian immigrants accounted for one-eighth of the total U.S. population in 2009. With Asian immigrants having higher levels of education and income than average Americans, their potential contribution to American philanthropy will be even more significant. This study examines the volunteering patterns of Korean immigrants, one of the fastest growing segments of the Asian immigrant population in the United States. This study explains Korean immigrants’ volunteering within ethnic and mainstream (American) organizations using the concepts of bonding and bridging social capital. The bivariate probit regression results suggest that ethnic volunteering and mainstream volunteering are generally the substitutes for each other. The findings nevertheless suggest that providing Asian immigrants’ with English education and continuing education opportunities may boost their volunteering to mainstream nonprofit organizations without discouraging their volunteering for ethnic organizations.

Résumé

Les immigrants asiatiques représentaient un huitième de la population totale des É.U. en 2009. Le niveau d’éducation et le revenu des immigrants asiatiques étant supérieurs à ceux d’un américain moyen, leur contribution potentielle à la philanthropie en Amérique n’en est que plus importante. Cette étude examine les modalités de bénévolat des immigrants coréens, l’un des segments de population dont l’accroissement est le plus rapide parmi les immigrants asiatiques aux États-Unis. Cette étude utilise les concepts de cohésion et de rapprochement du capital social pour explorer le bénévolat des immigrants coréens au sein des organisations ethniques et traditionnelles (américaines). Les résultats du modèle probit à deux variables suggèrent que le bénévolat ethnique et le bénévolat traditionnel se substituent généralement l’un à l’autre. Néanmoins, les conclusions suggèrent que le fait de donner aux immigrants asiatiques une éducation anglaise ainsi que des opportunités de poursuite des études sont susceptibles d’accroître leur participation bénévole aux organisations à but non lucratif traditionnelles, sans pour autant décourager leurs efforts de bénévolat envers les organisations ethniques.

Zusammenfassung

2009 machten asiatische Einwanderer ein Achtel der gesamten US-Bevölkerung aus. Da der Bildungsstand und das Einkommen asiatischer Einwanderer über dem durchschnittlicher Amerikaner liegt, nimmt ihr potentieller Beitrag zur amerikanischen Philantrophie noch an Bedeutung zu. Diese Studie untersucht die Verhaltensmuster koreanischer Einwanderer im ehrenamtlichen Bereich. Koreaner zählen zu den am schnellsten wachsenden Teilen der asiatischen eingewanderten Bevölkerung in den USA. Die Studie erläutert die ehrenamtlichen Tätigkeiten koreanischer Einwanderer bei ethnischen und generellen (amerikanischen) Organisationen, die Konzepte zur Bindung und Überbrückung von sozialem Kapital anwenden. Die Ergebnisse der bivariaten Probit-Regression lassen darauf schließen, dass ethnische und generelle ehrenamtliche Tätigkeiten im Allgemeinen untereinander austauschbar sind. Trotzdem deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass Gelegenheiten zum Erlernen der englischen Sprache sowie das Angebot von Weiterbildungsmöglichkeiten dazu beitragen können, dass asiatische Einwanderer vermehrt bei generellen Nonprofit-Organisationen tätig werden, ohne dass sie dabei von ehrenamtlichen Tätigkeiten bei ethnischen Organisationen abgehalten werden.

Resumen

Los inmigrantes asiáticos representaban en 2009 un tercio de la población total estadounidense. Ahora que este colectivo disfruta de una educación y un nivel de renta superior al estadounidense medio, su contribución potencial a la filantropía americana será más significativa. En este estudio se analizan los patrones de voluntariado de los inmigrantes coreanos, uno de los segmentos que más rápidamente crecen dentro de la población inmigrante asiática de Estados Unidos. En este estudio se analiza el trabajo de voluntariado de los inmigrantes coreanos en organizaciones étnicas y generales (estadounidenses) utilizando los conceptos de vinculación y equilibrio del capital social. Los resultados de un estudio probit bivariado sugieren que el voluntariado étnico y el general se sustituyen uno al otro. No obstante, también indican que ofrecer a los inmigrantes asiáticos una educación en inglés y oportunidades de formación continua puede estimularles a ejercer como voluntarios en organizaciones generales sin ánimo de lucro, aunque sin abandonar su trabajo en organizaciones étnicas.

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Notes

  1. The survey was administered by Korea Daily Newspaper and Joong Ang Broadcasting Corporation.

  2. The rate is consistent with existing research findings (Kim 1978).

  3. In their analysis of Current Population Survey September supplement data, Sundeen et al. (2009) find that acculturation affects volunteering rate among immigrants. To measure the level of acculturation, they relied on proxies such as citizenship status, age of entry of immigrants, generation number, and parental background of native born. However, acculturation is an individual process, which cannot be simply measured by the amount of exposure to other cultures.

  4. Both cultural challenge and language barrier are complex psychological constructs, and using single-item binary measures for these concepts may result in restrictions in the analysis (Loo 2002). Although it is not possible to include multidimensional constructs due to the limitation in data structure, this problem can be minimized when the psychological construct being measured is “sufficiently narrow or is unambiguous to the respondent” (Wanous et al. 1997, p. 247). In this study, respondents were asked whether they agree with two very specific statements regarding their feelings of cultural difference and language barrier.

  5. We cannot exclude the possibility for selection bias due to the voluntary nature of the survey participation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership. They are also grateful to the referees and the editor for their insightful comments on the paper.

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  1. School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Rd. WT 17, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    Young-joo Lee

  2. Department of Public Administration, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea

    Seong-Gin Moon

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Lee, Yj., Moon, SG. Mainstream and Ethnic Volunteering by Korean Immigrants in the United States. Voluntas 22, 811–830 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-010-9176-y

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