Volunteering and Its Relationship to Youth Social Capital Development: Study of University Students in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: This study examines volunteers and non-volunteers at universities to determine their differences in social capital and its dimensions (social relations, participation, confidence, tolerance, and cooperation). Method: The study applied the social survey approach and used a questionnaire with a purposive sample consisting of 272 students of King Saud University. SPSS 23 was used to analyse the collected data, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to measure the internal consistency of scale sentences, and the data were analysed with an independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results: For social capital and its dimensions, there are statistically significant differences at the 0.05 significance level between volunteers and non-volunteers with positive associations for volunteers. From the findings, this study recommends volunteering as an effective and important method for raising social capital levels and promoting innovative plans and strategies to increase youth participation in university volunteering.