Using Mediation Analysis to Uncover Psychological Mechanisms of Attitude Change in a Development Volunteer Program

Abstract

AbstractOne aim of development volunteer services is to foster positive attitudes in participants toward those they encounter in their host countries. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying such attitude change remain underexplored. This is true despite intergroup contact theory proposing that contact between groups causes more positive intergroup attitudes through the mechanism of increased mutual knowledge, improved perspective‐taking, and higher levels of empathy. A theory‐based multi‐method evaluation of the German weltwärts development volunteer service included a quasi‐experimental component to address the question of whether and how development volunteering contributes to such attitude change. Part of this component was the specification of a multiple‐mediator model based on intergroup contact theory to investigate the mechanism that brings about attitude change at a critical juncture of the program theory. The evaluation observed a highly significant small‐to‐medium‐sized effect of development volunteering on intergroup attitudes (β = .19). The analysis revealed that this effect was fully mediated by changes in the mediational pathways of knowledge, perspective‐taking, and empathy. The mediation analysis thereby lent strong support to the validity of causal hypotheses derived from intergroup contact theory in the context of development volunteering. It also substantially increased the explanatory strength, utility, and policy relevance of the evaluation. Based on these evaluation findings, development volunteer services should be designed such that they allow for the identified mechanism to fully unfold in order to increase program effectiveness. The chapter ends with a discussion of limitations and future directions concerning the use of mediation analysis in program evaluation.