Although it is well‐established that religious individuals tend to volunteer more than the non‐religious, few studies have examined motivations to volunteer as a potential explanation for this relationship. The present research takes a functional approach to examine whether religiosity drives volunteerism by promoting certain motivations for volunteering. Two common theories of religious prosociality are considered: (1) religious belief increases volunteering through internalized prosocial values, and (2) religious service attendance increases volunteering by fostering social relationships, hence increasing social reasons for volunteering. In two studies, Values‐based and Social‐based motivations to volunteer are tested as mediators in the relationship between religiosity (both belief and service attendance) and volunteering. Study 1 used a predominantly university student sample (N = 130) to predict volunteering intentions, whereas Study 2 employed an Australian community sample (N = 772) to predict self‐reported volunteer hours. Both studies show consistent findings that the Values motive mediated the relationship between religious belief and volunteering, whereas the Social motive did not mediate the relationship between religious service attendance and volunteering. We find support for the theory that religious beliefs boost volunteerism by promoting humanistic reasons for volunteering.

中文翻译：

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宗教，动机和志愿服务：对两种宗教亲社会理论的检验

尽管众所周知，宗教人士比非宗教人士更倾向于自愿参加志愿活动，但很少有研究探讨了自愿参加志愿活动作为这种关系的潜在解释的动机。本研究采用一种功能性方法来检验宗教是否通过促进志愿服务的某些动机来驱动志愿服务。人们考虑了两种宗教上的亲社会关系理论：（1）宗教信仰通过内在的亲社会价值增加了​​志愿服务；（2）参加宗教礼拜活动通过增进社会关系增加了志愿服务，因此增加了志愿服务的社会原因。在两项研究中，基于价值观和基于社会的志愿服务动机在宗教信仰（信仰和服务出席率）与志愿服务之间的关系中作为中介进行了测试。N  = 130）来预测志愿者的意愿，而研究2使用澳大利亚社区样本（N  = 772）来预测自我报告的志愿者工作时间。两项研究均显示出一致的发现，即“价值观”动机介导了宗教信仰与志愿服务之间的关系，而“社会动机”并未介导宗教服务出席率与志愿服务之间的关系。我们发现支持宗教信仰通过促进人道的志愿服务理由来促进志愿服务的理论的支持。