Prosocial behaviour axioms and values: Influence of gender and volunteering

Abstract

To promote prosocial behaviour, in the present study, we observed the human values that may predict it within the realms of the transcendental views of life, society’s shared culture and the world of personal and interpersonal affections. To do this, we started with two hypotheses: (1) prosocial behaviour differs according to gender and participation in volunteering; and (2) the variables of transcendental values, cultural development, affective development, gender and participation in volunteering predict prosocial behaviour. To do so, we conducted a quantitative study based on the cross-sectional, social analytical-empirical research method. We used a validated instrument with a large sample of 1,712 individuals living in the multicultural context of the Spanish city of Melilla, located in North Africa and one of only two land borders between Europe and Morocco. Values that could promote prosocial behaviour were grouped into four dimensions to locate relevant factors that helped identify which values are linked to specific actions, both formal and informal, through an inferential analysis focusing on regression and multivariate analysis of variance. Our findings highlighted the linkage of the transcendent dimension of the individual in relation to his or her level of prosocial behaviour and the role of women as socialising agents.