Committed and Inspired: How Does Experience in Volunteer Science Projects Drive Women’s Intention to Participate in Citizen Science?

Citizen participation in research has become an increasingly common theme in the way science is conducted recently. But the participation of scientists in citizen spaces and in communicating with them has become increasingly common. The aim of this research, Engagement and Inspiration: How Volunteering Science Drives Women’s Intention to Engage in Citizen Sciencewith the aim of evaluating the impact of scientific volunteer initiatives on women’s experiences and subsequent tendencies to continue volunteering.

The study sought to examine the influence of some social cognitive variables on their motivation to participate in events and organizations. The study included 369 volunteers from a science volunteer project run by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan.

At the methodological level, to analyze the proposed relationships, path analysis was used. Using the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) model, the results of this study revealed that investigative learning experiences, self-efficacy, and career interest in scientific careers are important factors contributing to the intention to participate in citizen science activities. It is important to highlight that self-efficacy and career interest played a key role as mediating variables in the chain between learning experiences and intention to participate in the science volunteering program.

In this way, this study modestly contributes to the gender literature by exploring how volunteering experiences influence female participants' intentions to continue their volunteering, focusing the discussion section on implications for those interested in maintaining their participation in volunteer programs and highlighting this article's contributions to gender-focused research.