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Measuring community strength and social capital

Author

Listed:
  • John Western
  • Robert Stimson
  • Scott Baum
  • Yolanda Van GELLECUM

Abstract

Western J., StimsonR., Baum S. and Van Gellecum Y. (2005) Measuring community strength and social capital, Regional Studies 39 , 1095-1109. Five case study communities in both metropolitan and regional urban locations in Australia are used as test sites to develop measures of 'community strength' on four domains: Natural Capital; Produced Economic Capital; Human Capital; and Social and Institutional Capital. The paper focuses on the fourth domain. Sample surveys of households in the five case study communities used a survey instrument with scaled items to measure four aspects of social capital - formal norms, informal norms, formal structures and informal structures - that embrace the concepts of trust, reciprocity, bonds, bridges, links and networks in the interaction of individuals with their community inherent in the notion social capital. Exploratory principal components analysis is used to identify factors that measure those aspects of social and institutional capital, while a confirmatory analysis based on Cronbach's α explores the robustness of the measures. Four primary scales and 15 subscales are identified when defining the domain of social and institutional capital. Further analysis reveals that two measures - anomie, and perceived quality of life and wellbeing - relate to certain primary scales of social capital.

Suggested Citation

  • John Western & Robert Stimson & Scott Baum & Yolanda Van GELLECUM, 2005. "Measuring community strength and social capital," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(8), pages 1095-1109.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:39:y:2005:i:8:p:1095-1109
    DOI: 10.1080/00343400500328222
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sophia Christakopoulou & Jon Dawson & Aikaterini Gari, 2001. "The Community Well-Being Questionnaire: Theoretical Context and Initial Assessment of Its Reliability and Validity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 319-349, December.
    2. Durlauf, Steven N., 2002. "Bowling Alone: a review essay," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 259-273, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarracino, Francesco & Mikucka, Malgorzata, 2015. "Social capital in Europe from 1990 to 2012: trends, path-dependency and convergence," MPRA Paper 63619, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Francesco Sarracino & Małgorzata Mikucka, 2017. "Social Capital in Europe from 1990 to 2012: Trends and Convergence," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 407-432, March.
    3. Jiashun Huang & Weiping Li & Xijie Huang & Lijia Guo, 2017. "Analysis of the Relative Sustainability of Land Devoted to Bioenergy: Comparing Land-Use Alternatives in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Franz Huber, 2009. "Social Capital Of Economic Clusters: Towards A Network‐Based Conception Of Social Resources," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(2), pages 160-170, April.
    5. Eiji Yamamura, 2010. "Effects of Interactions among Social Capital, Income and Learning from Experiences of Natural Disasters: A Case Study from Japan," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(8), pages 1019-1032.
    6. Rung-Jiun Chou & Feng-Tzu Huang, 2021. "Building Community Resilience via Developing Community Capital toward Sustainability: Experiences from a Hakka Settlement in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Caroline Saunders & Paul Dalziel, 2010. "Local planning for sustainable development," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 252-267, August.
    8. Edith Callaghan & John Colton, 2008. "Building sustainable & resilient communities: a balancing of community capital," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(6), pages 931-942, December.
    9. Alexandra Bec & Char-lee J. Moyle & Brent D. Moyle, 2019. "Community Resilience to Change: Development of an Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 1103-1128, April.
    10. Jan Pileček & Pavel Chromý & Vít Jančák, 2013. "Social Capital and Local Socio-economic Development: The Case of Czech Peripheries," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 104(5), pages 604-620, December.
    11. Dinh, Huong & Pearson, Leonie, 2015. "Specifying community economic resilience - a framework for measurement," 2015 Conference (59th), February 10-13, 2015, Rotorua, New Zealand 202523, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    12. Yamamura, Eiji, 2008. "The role of social capital in homogeneous society: Review of recent researches in Japan," MPRA Paper 11385, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Lafferty, Lise & Treloar, Carla & Chambers, Georgina M. & Butler, Tony & Guthrie, Jill, 2016. "Contextualising the social capital of Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men in prison," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 29-36.
    14. Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk, 2012. "Mierzenie kapitału społecznego," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1-2, pages 1-24.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; Community performance; Factor analysis; Valeur de l'interaction sociale; Performance communautaire; Analyse des facteurs; Sozialkapital; Gemeinschaftsleistung; Faktorenanalyse; Capital social; Rendimiento comunitario; Analisis de factores; JEL classifications: R00; R58; Z13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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