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RESEARCH PAPERS

Speaking Acquaintances or Helpers in Need: Participation in Civic

Associations and Individual Social Capital
Michael Mutz1 . Ulrike Burrmann2 . Sebastian Braun3

Accepted: 2 September 2020

© The Author(s) 2020

Abstract It is widely believed that civic associations are mechanisms of social capital formation in civic
capable to produce social capital, here understood as an associations.
individual asset resulting from relations of mutual support
and assistance. Although hardly anybody denies that Keywords Social capital · · Social connectedness · ·
socializing is widespread in many civic associations, it still Social support · · Civic associations · · Civil society
remains to be shown that this socializing provides a gen-
uine commitment to support. This paper explores the
relationship between involvement in civic organizations Civic Associations as Producers of Individual
and social support. The data analysed come from a nation- Social Capital
wide survey “Organized Sport and Social Capital—Re-
visited” (OSSCAR) representing the adult population in Much scholarly work has addressed voluntary associations’
Germany. Findings show that participation in civic asso- capabilities to generate, amplify and preserve social capital
ciations is associated with higher levels of social support. (e.g. Levi 1996; Newton 2001; Portes 1998; Putnam
This effect is stronger for active participants and weaker 1993, 2000; Smith and Kulyniych 2002; Stolle 1998;
for passive members. Path analyses further indicate that Wollebӕk and Selle 2007; Zimmer and Freise 2008). Some
this effect is mediated by a person’s sociability orientations of these studies conceive social capital as a collective good,
as well as her commitment to prosocial values. These which unfolds its potentials at the group level, i.e. in
findings help providing a more nuanced understanding of communities, regions or nations, while other scholars
regard social capital as an individual asset, having its roots
in a person’s social network (e.g. Bourdieu 1986; Burt
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this 2000; Granovetter 1983; Lin 2001). In the latter perspec-
article ([Link] contains sup-
plementary material, which is available to authorized users. tive, taken up in this paper, social capital connotes the idea
that social integration comes with individual benefits.
& Michael Mutz Clubs and associations in the realm of the civil society—
[Link]@[Link]
for instance, sport clubs, singing groups, political parties,
Ulrike Burrmann citizen’s initiatives or welfare associations—can thus be
[Link]@[Link]
conceived as social networks and membership in such
Sebastian Braun associations can broaden and strengthen a person’s social
braun@[Link]
capital.
1
Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus-Liebig- Previous research has already shown that active mem-
Universität Giessen, Giessen, Germany bers of voluntary associations are meeting their friends and
2
Department of Sport Science, Humboldt-Universität zu acquaintances more often (Brown et al. 2012; Creaven
Berlin, Berlin, Germany et al. 2018). They report lower levels of loneliness,
3
Department of Sport Science, Humboldt-Universität zu depression and unsafety (De Donder et al. 2012; Landstedt
Berlin, Berlin, Germany et al. 2016; Steptoe et al. 2013), a better state of health

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(Piliavin and Siegl 2007), higher levels of trust (Brehm and Following the work of Snijders (1999), this paper
Rahn 1997; Burrmann et al. 2020; Wollebӕk and operationalizes social capital as the amount of benefits and
Strømsnes 2008) and more political engagement (McFar- support that a person can obtain from her social network.
land and Thomas 2006; Van der Meer et al. 2009; Van Such an understanding focus on one key dimension of
Stekelenburg et al. 2016). individual social capital, unveiling the surplus value and
Despite the large number of studies indicating these thus the capital character of a group membership. More-
effects, most research remains rather sketchy with regard to over, social support is usually linked to financial and/or
the function of social capital as an individual utility. For informational advantages, i.e. addresses the convertibility
instance, the fact that members of associations feel better of social capital into economic and cultural capital. Fol-
socially integrated does not necessarily imply that the lowing this conceptualization of social capital, two
social network, which is accessible through the association research questions are at the core: First, do members of
functions as a carrier of social support in case of need. In civic associations have an advantage regarding their levels
some social networks, where people know each other and of individual social capital or not? For instance, do they
meet regularly, the readiness for mutual support and receive more support from their social network compared
assistance is not widespread. In this regard, Østerlund and to non-members, and if yes, how large is this advantage?
Seippel (2013) speak of “weak” and “pragmatic” commu- Assuming that such an advantage exists, the second ques-
nities and they distinguish these clubs from “strong com- tion refers to the origins of social capital: What produces
munities”, in which the commitment for reciprocal individual social capital in civic associations? Is it a by-
assistance and help is firmly established. Moreover, actors product of regular interactions with like-minded individu-
who constitute a social network may lack the abilities or als or the consequence of specific value orientations
the resources to offer effective help in a given situation. In propagated and acted out in an association?
this regard, scholars (e.g. Bourdieu 1986, Snijders 1999) We will answer these questions based on a German
pointed out that social capital cannot simply be equalled adaptation of the Resource Generator (Van der Gaag and
with the feeling of integration or the size of a social net- Snijders 2005), an established measure for social capital. A
work as it closely depends on the resources that other key advantage of this measure is that it directly refers to the
actors in this network have at their disposal and their resources that become available through membership in
willingness to share these resources with network mem- social networks. Hence, the Resource Generator (RG) is
bers. Hence, being part of a “weak” network—i.e. weak in able to grasp the utility function of that membership, i.e.
resources or in solidarity—would not qualify as capital. It the additional amount of practical, informational and
follows that in both cases, an actor may still feel socially emotional support that results from the network. Adapta-
integrated, while at the same time the utility function of tions of the original RG are found in a variety of studies
these group memberships would be marginal. (Foster and Maas 2016; Kobayashi et al. 2013; Webber and
Moreover, a feature of social capital, according to Huxley 2007); however, to our knowledge, this is the first
Bourdieu (1986), is its ability to be converted into other German study that applied a RG-based measure to assess
forms of capital, i.e. economic or cultural capital. This social capital. Moreover, with its endeavour to explicate
conversion may come through practical help, the provision social capital producing mechanisms, this study may pro-
of money or things as well as informational support. While vide a more nuanced understanding of social capital for-
money refers directly to economic capital, practical support mation in civic associations.
usually saves economic capital, because otherwise actors
may have bought this support at market prices. Informa-
tional support can be regarded as a conversion of social Foundations of Individual Social Capital
capital into cultural capital: Receiving valuable informa-
tion or advice from others may be seen as a substitute for a Sociability as a Source of Solidarity and Social
person’s own embodied cultural capital. Granovetter Support
(1983) has stressed this informational dimension of social
capital and argued that particularly bridging ties, i.e. con- Research on friendship and non-kin sociability has often
tacts to people or social groups outside of one’s own clique, argued that the development of close, affective, reciprocal
provide access to a wider range of (novel) information and social relations has its base primarily in regular contact and
thus are important for professional careers and social frequent interactions (e.g. Verbrugge 1983; Preciado et al.
mobility. However, useful information must not be limited 2012). Coming together on a regular basis enhances the
to the professional domain, but may also include any probability that a friendship may develop. In their classic
financial, medical, educational or legal advice. account, Festinger et al. (1950) studied friendship forma-
tion among students in a university housing complex

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consisting of 17 separate buildings. Results showed that bonds and friendships among individuals and solidarity
physical distance between the apartments was crucial for within groups. Hence, they may provide an ideal oppor-
determining the probability that a friendship evolved. tunity structure for the generation of social capital.
Living in the same building heavily increased the proba- Social ties and friendship relations developed in the
bility of becoming friends, but also those with flats close to realm of clubs and associations may only be conceived as
the postboxes and staircases had more friends compared to individual social capital provided that they yield a “return”
students with flats not often passed by others. In a similar for the actor beyond the mere feeling of belonging. Such a
study, scholars found that friendships more easily emerged return would arise, for instance, in the case that these social
in housing facilities with shared kitchens and bathrooms, as relations are reliable enough to bring forth a surplus
these facilities foster sociality (Yinon et al. 1977). Hence, amount of support and assistance. Strictly spoken, a surplus
social proximity seems to follow from regular face-to-face amount of support for a person is only made available
interactions. when new acquaintances in the club-generated social net-
Obviously, however, people do not befriend with all of work have abilities or resources at their disposal, which are
their regular social contacts. On one side, the opportunity not already included in the person’s already existing social
to establish closer relations are shaped by the social context network, particularly her circle of family, relatives and
in which two people meet. The behavioural rules and codes friends. However, if the assumption is true that civic
of conduct, typical for a specific social context, pre-struc- associations open up new social relations to persons with
ture social interactions, e.g. whether conversations have a specific abilities and resources, then it is likely that actively
businesslike or personal character or the etiquette is dis- engaged members of associations, who interact frequently
tanced and formal vs. relaxed and casual. On the other side, with others, should draw an extra amount of social support
all these interactions are accompanied by implicit evalua- out of their club membership.
tions on whether one’s counterpart is likeable or not. If
other people are regarded as likeable, interactions become Prosocial Attitudes and Generalized Reciprocity
more common and the willingness is raised to discuss a
broader spectrum of topics including personal issues. Beyond regular face-to-face interactions with like-minded
Studies in the field of social psychology have provided individuals, social capital formation may also depend on
ample evidence that attractiveness and sympathy ascribed specific value orientations and moral principles, which
to somebody are functions of similarities perceived underlie prosocial behaviour and helpfulness. These value
between oneself and that person (e.g. Byrne 1997; Kandel orientations may be developed, enhanced or reproduced in
1978; Hafen et al. 2011; Singh et al. 2017). The more the context of specific civic associations. Portes (1998,
similar two people are—for instance, regarding age, edu- p. 8) has coined the term “value introjection” to describe
cation, political attitudes, musical taste or preferred leisure these processes, i.e. the establishment and individual
pursuits—the more likeable they usually regard each other. acquisition of solidarity-producing values and norms. Such
Perceived similarities may then stimulate a circular pro- references towards values and moral principles may be
cess, where interaction leads to perceptions of similarity, most clearly embedded in the associational cultures of
sympathy and further interactions. Once initiated, this religious and charitable groups, who often propagate
process may also be fundamental for developing prosocial benevolence, compassion, Christian love or care for the
attitudes towards each other and offering mutual support. needy. Hence, in some associations, normative orientations
These considerations are useful to assess the potential towards prosocial values are part of the association’s
role of civic associations for social capital production: identity. It is more likely then, that members are confronted
activities in associations and clubs are usually group regularly with these values and norms, orientate themselves
activities, which facilitate regular interactions within the towards them and incorporate them in their own moral
same network of people. Moreover, the individuals within compass.
this network share some substantial similarities, as they Specific forms of prosocial values may also pervade the
obviously have the same leisure interests, and in most associational cultures of clubs beyond the narrow scope of
associations—at least in the domain of welfare and politics religion and charity. For instance, sport and hobby clubs,
—they also share the same political and social values. singing groups or political movements may directly or
Hence, if people engage in voluntary associations in their indirectly foster prosocial and altruistic values and atti-
leisure time, they are likely to meet like-minded others. tudes. Voluntary associations have been described as “al-
Finally, activities in associations are usually accompanied truistic associations” (Giner and Sarasa 1996), which either
by social activities which allow for informal conversations. aim to work for the benefit of others or for the benefit of its
Hence, associations can be characterized by attributes associated members. Moreover, most civic associations
which theoretically should foster the development of social depend on active and engaged members, who participate in

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the club’s activities and are committed to the clubs’ goals. individual can obtain from his ties to other individuals
The fact that civic associations are not fully professional- (Snijders 1999, p. 29). One key aspect of these assets and
ized but rely on volunteer work and the commitment of benefits is the amount of support a person can bail out of
their members to accept honorary offices has been pointed her social network. The Resource Generator (Snijders
out as an organizational peculiarity of voluntary associa- 1999; Van der Gaag and Snijders 2005) is able to capture
tions (Braun 2014). Accordingly, data from Germany show the utility function of social capital, including support with
that the majority of roughly two-thirds of all volunteer regard to professional, financial, political, leisure-related or
work takes place within civic associations (Simonson et al. health-related aspects.
2016). Due to the fact that voluntary engagement is for the Derived from the theoretical considerations explained
benefit of club members or third parties, it is virtually above, four hypotheses are guiding the empirical analyses.
always enhancing the welfare of others. Hence, it may be First, we assume that members of civic associations have
assumed that civic associations engender a disposition to stronger orientations towards sociability compared to non-
act for the sake of others, at least in the proper sense of the members (Hypothesis #1). Second, members of civic
association’s statutes and aims. associations are supposed to have a more pronounced
Moreover, any altruistic behaviour can have a modelling prosocial outlook on society compared to non-members
function for other club members; hence, it may be noticed (Hypothesis #2). Third, members of civic associations
and then imitated or reciprocated. Studies have convinc- receive more support from their social network compared
ingly shown that individuals gear their own social beha- to non-members (Hypothesis #3). Fourth, we assume that a
viour to perceived norms and codes of conduct (Keizer social support effect of participation in civic associations is
et al.2008) and they tend to reciprocate helpfulness and mediated by sociability and prosocial orientations. Hence,
cooperation perceived in groups or other persons (Simpson the direct effect of participation in civic associations on
et al. 2018). Therefore, sometimes a single initial “altruistic social support should be weakened considerably as soon as
investment” in a group suffices to evoke a positive sociability and prosocial orientations (the mediating vari-
dynamic, resulting in higher collective levels of solidarity ables) are controlled for (Hypothesis #4). For hypotheses 1,
and helpfulness over time (Fowler and Christakis 2010). 2 and 3, it can be further assumed that effects should be
Hence, if an association is understood as a social network stronger for active members than for passive members of
in which manifold acts of cooperation, altruism and social the association.
support are prevalent and can be observed regularly and
frequently, then this alone could establish, enhance or
stabilize prosocial orientations among the club’s Methods
membership.
It can thus be conjectured that individuals who partici- Study Design
pate in civic associations have regular contact with
prosocial, altruistic others whose readiness to help and This study was part of the research project “Organized
cooperate is potentially high. People who actively partici- Sport and Social Capital—Revisited” (OSSCAR). This
pate in civic associations supposedly more often witness project uses a nation-wide online survey to investigate the
and experience in their social interactions acts of helpful- production of social capital in civic associations (N=2568).
ness, cooperation and altruism, and therefore may adopt to The survey was accomplished in cooperation with Kantar
a worldview in which prosocial orientations are a main Public, a leading organization in public opinion polling and
point of reference. Assuming that social capital is, among political consultation in Germany. The data were collected
others, also a function of a person’s own prosocial orien- from 13 December 2017 to 3 January 2018, with a short
tation, people with a more altruistic worldview should not interruption during Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
only act more altruistically themselves but also receive The sample represents the adult population living in Ger-
more support from their social network due to the fact that many ([18 years) and matches the composition of the
norms of cooperation and support are enhanced and sta- population according to age, gender, educational level and
bilized reciprocally. residency (East and West Germany). However, respondents
with higher educational degrees were slightly overrepre-
Hypotheses sented in the sample. To adjust for these minor deviations
from the German population, probability weights are used
As pointed out in the beginning, social capital refers to (see Table 1). Moreover, raw data were checked for con-
benefits and support available through a social network. In spicuous responding: A small amount of respondents who
the simplest way, social capital describes “assets in net- make use of “straight-lining” (i.e. whose responses show a
works” (Lin 2001, p.3) or the sum of benefits, which an very small variance or no variance at all) and speedy

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Table 1 Sample characteristics Prosocial outlook The 5-item scale for prosocial outlook
Sample composition
refers to general attitudes of solidarity, helpfulness and
altruism (e.g. “I like to help other people whenever I am
Unweighted sample Weighted sample able to do so”; “I am prepared to speak up for the interest
Gender of others, even if it is inconvenient for me”). The scale is
Male 50.3 48.9 adapted from previous surveys (Vester et al. 2001; Baur
Female 49.7 51.1 and Braun 2003). Answer categories range from 1=“not
Age agree at all” to 4=“totally agree”. The scale has an
Mean 48.36 49.28 acceptable reliability (α=.67). Its values range from 1 to
(SD) (15.81) (16.43) 4 with M=3.16 and SD=0.43.
Education
Social capital To measure the support embedded in a
Lower secondary 37.1 37.8
person’s network, Snijders has suggested Resource
Generator (RG)-based measures, which focus on the
Medium secondary 26.7 29.7
support functions of a network and not on network
Higher secondary 36.3 32.5
characteristics per se (Snijders 1999; Van der Gaag and
Region
Snijders 2005). The RG presents a fixed list of (emer-
East Germany 19.4 19.9
gency) situations to respondents and asks to indicate, for
West Germany 80.6 80.1
which of these situations their social network could
provide help. Taken together, these situations cover
several domains of life and several dimensions of social
responding (i.e. answering the survey, which was sched- support. The RG then quantifies the amount of social
uled for 15 min in less than 5 min) were identified and then support that a person’s network of family, friends and
deleted from the data set. acquaintances may provide as the sum of the situations
where help is available. Thereby, the RG accounts for
Measures the notion that the “aggregation of benefits over alters is
not additive” (Snijders 1999, p. 34). Hence, if two or
Civic participation Respondents indicated their mem- more contacts in a person’s social network could provide
berships in a broad range of different civic associations. In the same sort of benefits, the additional beneficing
total, 14 different voluntary associations were queried, for provided by the second contact is usually marginal and
instance, sports clubs, hobby associations, music groups, can be neglected. For that reason, the RG asks respon-
unions, parties, citizen initiatives, professional associa- dents only to indicate whether they have at least one
tions, volunteer fire brigades, rescue services or ecological person in their network who could provide support in a
activist groups (Baur and Braun 2003). Overall, 1293 given situation and not to count the number of contacts
respondents indicated no club memberships (50%); 1275 from which help would be available. Our situation
respondents hold at least one membership (50%). Club descriptions closely resemble items from the previous
members additionally had to answer if they “participate Dutch and British versions of the RG (Van der Gaag and
regularly in activities”, “help regularly” or “exercise an Snijders 2005; Webber and Huxley 2007). However, due
honorary office” in the club. Altogether 813 respondents to restrictions regarding the length of the survey, the
answered “yes” to at least one of these questions and were 37-item measure (Van der Gaag and Snijders 2005) had
categorized as “active members” (32%); 461 respondents to be shortened. Therefore, we constructed a 13-item RG
are “passive members” (18%). version, which can be applied in population surveys
Sociability orientations We used a 7-item scale that more easily (see Table 2). The 13 items presented to
refers to a person’s perceptions of her network of friends respondents include situations, where instrumental sup-
and acquaintances (e.g. “My friends are like a big port (e.g. “someone able to help with a repair in the
family”; “I do a lot together with my friends and house”), emotional support (e.g. “someone to turn to
acquaintances”) to measure sociability orientations. The when there is a conflict in the family”) or informational
scale is well established in German survey research support (e.g. “someone to consult for a financial advice”)
(Vester et al. 2001; Baur and Braun 2003). Respondents is needed. The RG used here can obtain values from 0 (=
indicated their approval on a 4-point rating scale (1 support available in none of 13 situations) to 13 (=
=“not agree at all” to 4=“totally agree”). The scale has a support available in all 13 situations). On average,
good reliability (α=.81). Values range from 1 to 4 with respondents indicated that their social network could
M=2.44 and SD=0.58. provide support in almost 6 of 13 situations (M=5.79;
SD=3.64; min=0; max=13).

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Table 2 13-item German version of the Resource Generator: Item wording and descriptive sample statistics
Respondents with social support available (in %)
In case, you need help in the following situations: Do you know someone in your social Non- passive club active club Full
network who could easily support you? Do you know anyone who… members members members sample

…can help with packing and lifting when moving house? 65 68 72 68

…can care for your home (e.g. clear letterbox, water flowers), when you are on travel for a 64 67 70 67
longer time?
…can do the shopping for you when you are ill? 61 64 67 63
…can help you with smaller maintenance repairs in the household? 58 64 66 62
…would let you stay overnight for a week, if you are unable to use your own place during 49 52 58 52
that time?
…can discuss current political affairs with you? 42 48 53 47
…you can turn to when having disputes in the family? 41 43 45 42
…can advise you in financial matters? 35 39 48 40
…you can ask if you had to borrow a larger sum of money (for instance, 1000€)? 32 34 37 34
…you can turn to when having a conflict at work? 29 32 36 32
…can give you a profound medical advice when you are dissatisfied with your physician? 24 26 36 28
…can give you a legal advice? 20 24 35 25
…can give you a good reference when applying for a job? 17 17 24 19

Covariates The regression models control for a range of Results

covariates: gender, age, educational level, household
income (in 13 categories from 1=“\500 €” to 13 Is Civic Participation Associated with Sociability
=“[10,000 €”), migration background, size of residency and Helpfulness?
as well as for residency in East vs. West Germany.
Immigration background refers only to first-generation First, ordinary-least-squares regressions demonstrate that
immigrants. We selected these covariates as they may active members of civic associations generally perceive
correlate with civic participation, sociability, prosocial themselves as more sociable and socially embedded com-
orientations or social support. pared to non-members (cf. Table 3, M1a–1b). This differ-
ence is shown in models with and without controls,
respectively. Model 1b includes sociodemographic vari-
Analytical Approach
ables to control for selection effects preceding active par-
ticipation, but still shows a large advantage regarding
Ordinary-least-square (OLS) regression models were
social embeddedness for active members of civic associa-
applied to assess whether or not active and passive mem-
tions (b=.441, p\.01). This finding is in line with
bers of civic associations differ in any dependent variable
hypothesis #1. However, being a passive member in a civic
from non-members. Hence, non-members make up the
association is not associated with higher levels of socia-
reference group in all models. Our most important depen-
bility compared to non-members (b=.037, p[.05). Partic-
dent variable is social support, but we also test for asso-
ipation in the civic domain accounts for 12.8% of
ciations with sociability and prosocial orientations. In the
individual differences in sociability orientations. Regarding
OLS models sociodemographic factors, which may account
the control variables, household income and immigrant
for selection effects into these organizations, are included.
background are significantly and positively associated with
For testing whether sociability and prosocial outlook serve
sociability orientations.
as mediators for the assumed social capital effect of civic
Secondly, regression analyses show that members of
participation, we use Andrew Hayes’ SPSS Macro PRO-
civic association stand out with a prosocial outlook.
CESS (Hayes 2018; [Link] This
According to models 2a (b=.122, p\.01) and 2b (b=.131,
modelling tool allows for assessing direct and indirect
p\.01), active members perceive contemporary society as
(mediated) effects and estimates standard errors for medi-
more prosocial and cooperative compared to non-members.
ated effects with the help of bootstrapping procedures.
This finding lends support to hypothesis #2. However,
passive members also differ from non-members (b=.058,

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Table 3 Sociability and

Sociability (1–4) Prosocial Outlook (1–4)
prosocial outlook of members of
civic associations 1a 1b 2a 2b

Civic participation
Passive member1 0.022 0.037 0.043+ 0.058*
Active member1 0.447** 0.441** 0.122** 0.131**
Covariates
Gender: female – −0.015 – 0.083**
Age – 0.000 – 0.003**
Educational degree – −0.006 – 0.006
Household income – 0.031** – 0.009*
Immigrant background – 0.172** – 0.040
Size of residence – −0.001 – 0.012
Area of residence – 0.051+ – 0.058**
Intercept 2.28 2.13 3.11 2.72
Model fit (R2) .128 .156 .016 .039
Note OLS regression with PROCESS Vs. 3.5. OSSCAR-Study 2017/18. N=2331. Indicated are unstan-
dardized regression coefficients (b). 1Reference category: non-members. Significance: +p\.10/*p\.05/
**p\.01

p\.05, M2b) and perceive prosocial orientations to be better-off individuals report to have access to more support
more prevailing in society. The difference is small but within their social network.
significant. Civic participation generally accounts for 1.6%
of individual differences in prosocial outlook. Control Mediation Analysis
variables indicate that prosocial views are more widespread
among females, older individuals, those living in high-in- One of our key assumptions (see Hypothesis #4) was that
come households as well as among West-German the surplus of social capital generated from membership in
residents. civic associations is mediated by sociability and prosocial
orientations. The mediation analysis demonstrates that the
Is Civic Participation Associated with Social total effect of active participation in civic associations on
Capital? individual social capital (b=.967, M3b) can be separated
into the direct effect (.312, M3e), which is marginally
A set of five regression models tests whether civic partic- significant, and two indirect effects: The first indirect effect
ipation is associated with individual social capital that a is mediated by sociability orientations (b=.315, SE=.064,
person can generate through her social network. The β=.086, p\.01) and the second is mediated by prosocial
measure for social capital is based on the Resource Gen- outlook (b=.339, SE=.056, β=.092 p\.01). Both media-
erator; hence, it varies between 0 and 13, depending on the tion effects are highly significant. Moreover, the mediation
number of situations in which a person has a contact in analysis for passive membership indicates that the total
their network, who could provide effective help. The effect on social support (b=.405, M3b) can be separated
simple models without mediators (cf. Table 4, M3a–3b) into the non-significant direct effect (b=.228, M3e) and
show that active participation in the civic domain is sig- two indirect effects, from which only one is significant:
nificantly associated with more social capital. Active The indirect effect mediated by sociability orientations (b
members are convinced to find social support in roughly =.027, SE=.024, β=.007, p[.05) is not significant,
one more (emergency) situation compared to non-members whereas the effect mediated by prosocial outlook is sig-
(b=.967, p\.01, M3b). This finding supports our third nificant at the .05-level (b=.150, SE=.062, β=.041,
hypothesis. For passive members, a significant association p\.05). The significant paths are illustrated in Fig. 1,
is also shown, although the size of the effect is smaller (b which shows the full mediation model for the social capital
=.405, p\.05, M3b). The simplest model with only active effects of civic participation.
and passive participation as predictors accounts for 1.4% of For checking the robustness of these results, we calcu-
individual differences in social capital. Regarding the lated another set of regression models for which we further
control variables, females, better educated and financially distinguished the active members into “volunteers”, i.e.

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Table 4 Social support

Social Support (Resource Generator, 0–13)
received by members of civic
associations 3a 3b 3c 3d 3e

Civic participation
Passive member1 0.464* 0.405* 0.368+ 0.240 0.228
Active member1 .996** 0.967** 0.397* 0.592** 0.312+
Mediators
Sociability – – 1.324** – 0.714**
Prosocial Outlook – – – 2.880** 2.594**
Covariates
Gender: female – 1.096** 1.130** 0.856** 0.892**
Age – 0.001 0.001 −0.008 −0.008
Educational degree – 0.329** 0.337** 0.314** 0.318**
Household income – 0.149** 0.108** 0.123** 0.104**
Immigrant background – −0.435 −0.653* −0.548+ −0.661*
Size of residence – 0.039 0.036 0.006 0.009
Area of residence – −0.097 −0.166 −0.271 −0.284
Intercept 5.50 1.95 −0.92 −5.90 −6.63
2
Model fit (R ) .014 .062 .100 0.166 0.176
Note OLS regression with PROCESS Vs. 3.5. OSSCAR-Study 2017/18. N=2331. Indicated are unstan-
dardized regression coefficients (b). 1Reference category: non-members. Significance: +p\.10/*p\.05/
**p\.01

e1

.156

Sociability
orientaons e3
Acve parcipaon in
a civic associaon
.176
(vs. non-members)

Social support

Passive membership in
a civic associaon
(vs. non-members) Prosocial
outlook

.039

e2

Fig. 1 Mediation model for the social support effects of civic participation. Note Based on OLS regressions including sociodemographic
controls. Model parameters estimated with PROCESS Vs. 3.5. Indicated are standardized coefficients (β). Significance: +p\.10/*p\.05/**p\.01

who help regularly or hold an office in the association, and results presented here, but further show that the total effect
“active participants”, i.e. who take part regularly in the of volunteering on social capital is fully mediated by
association’s activities, but do not volunteer. These find- sociability orientations and prosocial outlook, whereas for
ings are documented in an online appendix accompanying active participation a partial mediation is found with a
this paper. The additional results largely conform to the small and significant direct effect remaining.

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Discussion and Conclusions reciprocated cooperation and altruism among members

become a moral obligation.
The present study used large-scale survey data to analyse Findings presented here show average effects over all
the associations between civic participation and one key types of clubs but do not allow for conclusions on specific
aspect of individual social capital, namely the support types of voluntary associations. Previous research has
generated from social networks. Based on a Germany-wide pointed out that social capital effects vary between dif-
representative online survey, findings demonstrate that ferent types of associations. For instance, Van der Meer
active participation in civic associations is associated et al. (2009) have shown that members of leisure, activist
positively with the social capital available from a person’s and interest organizations vary with regard to political
social network. Active members of voluntary associations attitudes as well as trust in political institutions. Voicu and
(and to a lesser degree also passive members) receive more Voicu (2016) found significant differences between asso-
support from their social network compared to non-mem- ciations with regard to gender equality values: Whereas
bers. Precisely, they can count on their network of family, members of religious and sport organizations were more
friends and acquaintances in a wider range of (emergency) conservative, members of charity organizations turned out
situations where they are in need for assistance. to be more liberal. Burrmann et al. (2020) document dif-
This effect is mediated by sociability attitudes and ferences in social trust levels between members of inward-
prosocial orientations. We have argued that socializing and and outward-oriented associations. These differences
friendship formation are integral parts of many civic between associations may be due to socialization process
associations, especially those in the domain of leisure and that result from engagement and activities within that
culture. And we elaborated that civic participation also organization. However, they may also be due to selection
strengthens a person’s prosocial outlook, because in many processes that precede membership, given that studies
voluntary associations active participants experience pointed to differences in membership structures between
mutual cooperation and helpfulness, and they adapt to specific types of associations (Bekkers et al. 2008; Voicu
generalized reciprocity norms. Our findings buttress the and Serban 2012). Although differences between types of
assumption that social capital effects of civic associations associations were not in the scope of the present study, it
are mediated—in large parts, at least—by sociability and can be argued that many inward-oriented associations (e.g.
prosocial orientations. With regard to active members, the organizations in the domain of leisure) may produce higher
total effect on social support was divided into three almost degrees of sociality, whereas outward-oriented organiza-
equal components: a direct effect, an indirect effect tions (e.g. activist and charity associations) may generate
mediated by sociability and an indirect effect mediated by higher amounts of prosocial values. Hence, our findings
prosocial outlook. Moreover, not only active participants may inspire more fine-grained research on particular types
scored higher in social support, sociability and prosocial of associations and their specific mechanisms of social
outlook, but also for passive members, a slight advantage capital production.
in social capital compared to non-members was demon- Despite its contribution to the state of research, this
strated. However, this small effect for passive members study has also some limitations: First, the cross-sectional
was almost completely mediated by prosocial orientations. design of the survey does not allow for testing causality.
Our findings contribute to the state of research in several The causal assumptions put forward in this paper are based
ways: Distinguishing this study from previous research, our on theoretical and plausibility considerations. Hommerich
measure of social capital goes beyond subjective “feelings (2015), for instance, argues that socially disconnected
of belonging” or “social connectedness” (e.g. Hoye et al. individuals dissociate themselves from civil engagement,
2015) and highlights the benefits, i.e. the capital character, thus lending support to the reversed causal mechanism.
of an individual’s social network. Moreover, as social Likewise, individuals with initial high levels of sociability
support is related to health, the additional amount of social and prosocial values as well as a supportive social network
support received through associational contacts may help may be more inclined to participate in certain voluntary
to foster mental and physical well-being (Piliavin and Siegl associations (e.g. charity organization) or to volunteer in
2007; Steptoe et al. 2013). Moreover, the study gives some said organizations. These arguments, however, do not
indications which mechanisms may produce the social contradict the line of reasoning put forward here, as both
capital effect of voluntary associations: Associations may paths of influence do not exclude each other, but can
foster sociality, i.e. frequent interactions with like-minded coexist (Piliavin and Siegl 2007; Sirven and Debrand
others and this sociality per se may be a base for solidarity 2012).
and mutual support. In addition, prosocial values can be Secondly, we were not able to use the original 37-item
inscribed into the normative DNA of an association, so that Resource Generator proposed by Van der Gaag and Sni-
jders (2005), but had to shorten the measure to 13 items.

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These adaptations have been applied in other countries as Modernizing democracy. Associations and associating in the 21st
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Brehm, J., & Rahn, W. (1997). Individual-level evidence for the
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