Coping with occupational uncertainty and formal volunteering across the life span

•We address the implications of occupational uncertainty for formal volunteering.•We consider career stages and ways of coping with occupational uncertainty.•Our analyses draw on cross-sectional and 1-year follow-up data from Germany.•Engagement coping predicts more volunteering among young labor market entrants.•Disengagement has negative effects in younger and positive effects in older workers.

Common wisdom suggests that individuals confronted with occupational uncertainty (e.g., job insecurity and difficulties with career planning) may withdraw from volunteering. We argue that volunteering may be useful to workers in some career stages and that stage-appropriate coping with occupational uncertainty may increase individuals' readiness to volunteer. In Study 1, we used cross-sectional and 1-year follow-up data from Germany that covered three age groups: 16–29 (NT1 = 1253, NT2 = 224), 30–43 (NT1 = 1560, NT2 = 371), and 56–75 (NT1 = 518, NT2 = 215). High engagement and low disengagement in coping with occupational uncertainty were associated with concurrent volunteering in the youngest group but not in the other groups. Over 1 year, high disengagement reduced the likelihood of starting volunteering in the youngest group and increased this likelihood in the oldest group. Study 2 used an independent, cross-sectional German sample that included two age groups: 20–29 (N = 326) and 30–40 (N = 367). Using a different measure of volunteering, Study 2 partly replicated the cross-sectional findings from Study 1. Results suggest that individual agency is a decisive link between occupational uncertainty and the readiness to volunteer, particularly among young labor market entrants.