From Voluntary Associations to Community Involvement: The Roles of Social Ties, Affiliations, and Multimodal Participation

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Political Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

An active network of voluntary associations can serve as an important backbone for building community resilience in various ways, ranging from community growth, to economic and educational development, and to disaster response. With the increasingly important role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) incorporated in different civil and civic behaviors, the interdependent relationships between voluntary associations and communities may change. Building on this inquiry, this study employs social capital theory, the perspective of media multiplexity, and communication public goods theory to examine the relationship between voluntary associations and community involvement through a telephone survey of a randomly selected sample of 400 residents in the Greater Cleveland area (USA). The results showed that being embedded in affiliation networks is significantly correlated with community involvement. Moreover, participation in voluntary associations through multiple means of communication significantly predicted community involvement after controlling for other factors such as local ties, diversity of social ties, and affiliation ties. In other words, for people who are not associated with multiple affiliations, their active involvement in a single voluntary association through multiple technologies facilitates their participation in community activities. Findings of this study present theoretical and practical implications for contemporary forms of voluntary associations in relation to communities.

keywords: participation, civic engagement, social capital, new technology, quantitative-survey, qualitative-visual/network analysis

Author

• Chih-Hui Lai, Nanyang Technological University