Structural Model of Community Social Capital for Enhancing Rural Communities Adaptation against the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Pujon Kidul Tourism Village, Malang Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Pujon Kidul Village, Pujon District, Malang Regency, is an area with tourism potential that has been developed since 2017 with the concept of agricultural tourism. Throughout the development of tourism villages, Pujon Kidul Village has succeeded in accelerating economic growth and providing jobs for the community. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism villages have been severely affected, leading to the temporary closure of tourist attractions and community businesses. This research aimed to identify what indicators form social capital variables and the relationship between social capital variables and community adaptation patterns in dealing with pandemics in the study location. This was quantitative research with confirmatory factor analysis to determine the indicators of forming social capital and structural equation modeling analysis to determine the relationship between the variables. Based on the findings, it is known that trust in forming a social network is 0.468. Furthermore, the social network forms community actions of 0.046 and influences community resilience by 0.007. Therefore, good social capital will make it easier for the community to participate in collective action as a form of caring for each other during the pandemic. This action also influences the community to survive in a pandemic crisis, thus creating an adaptation pattern for the Pujon Kidul Tourism Village community in facing a pandemic.