Capital Community Research Articles

Food security among low-income immigrant households and the role of social capital: A case study of Somali-American households in the Midwestern United States

Through analysis of primary data from 249 Somali American households in seven cities in the Midwestern United States, we present a case study, which reviews non-monetary constraints to food security, assesses food security and social capital in a low-income immigrant community, and estimates the relationship between food security and social capital. We measure social capital objectively as the size of the Somali American community in the urban center, while subjective (self-reported) measures of social capital include the respondents’ perception of support received from their community, interactions with members of their community, and membership in organized groups. Results confirm low levels of food security in Somali American population, a community that cannot be readily studied using secondary data such as the Current Population Survey due to the limited sample size. However, we find a positive association between objectively measured social capital and food security indicating higher levels of food security among respondents in larger Somali American communities within the study area. Association of food security with two self-reported measures (perceived community support and informal interactions) was inconclusive. The relationship between food security and the third self-reported measure (participation in organized groups) was not statistically significant.

Barriers and Facilitators for Successful Community Forestry: Lessons Learned and Practical Applications From Case Studies in India and Guatemala

Internationally, numerous examples have been of efforts to promote community-based forest management (CBFM) through forest decentralization programs that promote forest conservation and livelihood improvements. Although there are successful examples, those efforts have been met with mixed success. This article proposes an analytical framework for evaluating the case studies of CBFM, highlighting the interconnection between community capital, land tenure, and markets. The analytical framework is used to analyze factors contributing to community forestry success focusing on two case studies in central India and northern Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. We evaluate how the interplay of community capitals (i.e., community skills and resources), tenure, and markets is crucial for the successful replication of community forestry efforts. Specifically, we demonstrate that community capital factors such as social (bonding and linking), human, natural, and political; tenure factors such as a legal basis for rights, implementation of rights policy, community engagement in decision-making related to rights, withdrawal rights; and market factors such as market availability for the product, market accessibility for the producers, and profitability are the most important for facilitating and replicating community forestry efforts. Our framework can be used by nonprofits and policymakers to engage with community forestry planning as well as for monitoring and evaluation.

Social capital and its role to improve maternal and child health services in Northwest Ethiopia: A qualitative study.

Social capital is a set of shared values that allows individuals or groups receive emotional, instrumental or financial resources flow. In Ethiopia, despite people commonly involved in social networks, there is a dearth of evidence exploring whether membership in these networks enhances uptake of maternal and child health (MCH) services. This study aimed to explore perspectives of women, religious leaders and community health workers (CHWs) on social capital to improve uptake of MCH services in Northwest Ethiopia. We employed a qualitative study through in-depth interviews with key informants, and focus group discussions. A maximum variation purposive sampling technique was used to select 41 study participants (11 in-depth interviews and 4 FGDs comprising 7-8 participants). Data were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was employed using ATLAS.ti software. Four overarching themes and 13 sub-themes of social capital were identified as factors that improve uptake of MCH services. The identified themes were social networking, social norms, community support, and community cohesion. Most women, CHWs and religious leaders participated in social networks. These social networks enabled CHWs to create awareness on MCH services. Women, religious leaders and CHWs perceived that existing social capital improves the uptake of MCH services. The community has an indigenous culture of providing emotional, instrumental and social support to women through social networks. So, it would be useful to consider the social capital of family, neighborhood and community as a tool to improve utilization of MCH services. Therefore, policymakers should design people-centered health programs to engage existing social networks, and religious leaders for improving MCH services.

District-based Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (DBRIC) for assessment of a Global South city

Assessing resilience at the community level is essential for evidence-based planning and policymaking. However, issues such as data availability and accessibility make community resilience assessment a challenging task. Development and implementation of resilience assessment models are particularly challenging in Global South cities that lack access to skilled personnel and updated databases. Using the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) model, developed for county-level resilience assessment in the United States, this article aims to create an urban district-level resilience index called District-based Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (DBRIC). We utilized DBRIC to measure the resilience of Tehran districts and examine how it has changed from 2006 to 2016. The selection of these years was primarily influenced by the data availability. The results show that 45.5% of the districts of Tehran experienced a decrease in the DBRIC index by up to -300%. The decline was particularly noteworthy in terms of social and community capital. Further, the results highlight relatively less resilient districts that require specific attention from planners and policy makers. The findings of the study can inform local planners and policymakers in their efforts towards enhancing resilience. They can also be of interest to policymakers in other Global South cities with similar conditions.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES

The study of this article aims to illustrate the importance of social capital in community development in rural areas assuming that social capital energy still exists in community life in rural areas today but certainly needs to be improved sustainably. Using the method of literature study, so that the secondary databases obtained are compiled, analyzed and inferred. The data collection stage is through taking data from the library, reading, recording, and then processing the data from the materials obtained. The results of the study show that through the elements of social capital owned by the community in rural areas, the role of social capital can contribute to increasing community productivity, social development, economic development as well as the development and rehabilitation of various village infrastructures in a mutual cooperation. Social exchanges that are built in rural communities that tend to be based on certain motives including because there are certain motives of profit, interests and rewards, are intertwined through interlocking social networks. This is also supported by the existence of social values and norms in the culture of the village community. For this reason, a sustainable increase in social capital in rural communities is expected to improve the economy and reduce poverty in addition to the increase in various other development sectors in rural areas today.

Formation of the Social Capital of Urban Communities in the Context of Digitalization of the Urban Environment

Introduction. Currently, the development and convergence of virtual digital practices actualizes the need for theoretical and methodological understanding of the transformations of social capital in the urban environment. The purpose of the article is to explore the process of changing the mechanisms for the formation of social capital, based on expert assessments and the results of an analysis of public opinion, as well as conjunctive processes that are being transformed under the influence of the digitalization of urban spaces. Methodology and Methods. The methodological basis of the study consists of the provisions of the social capital theory, the theory of social conjunction; the concept of digitalization of social reality. The empirical base of the scientific article includes the results of a complex of sociological studies conducted by a team of authors of Belgorod State University in 2020–2022. The research data has made it possible to determine the dispositions of various population groups in relation to the social consolidation of urban communities in the context of the digitalization of the urbanized environment, as well as to identify the specifics of values, attitudes and behavioral motives in the implementation of consolidation practices. Results. On the basis of empirical data, it has been possible to reveal that the process of forming and building up the social capital of urban communities has serious limitations that do not disappear in the course of digitalization of the urban environment. On the one hand, this process creates opportunities for consolidation based on social digital platforms; on the other hand, network social capital turns out to be very fragile, since it does not involve “live communication” and does not connect the participants of the interaction with reliable grounds. Discussion and Conclusion. The analysis has made it possible to note that, while creating new conditions for communication and unification of citizens, digitalization also leads to the emergence of new barriers, the most significant of which is the lack of “real life communication”, which prevents the participants of interaction from being bound by reliable grounds. Prospects for further research on the topic under study are related to the development of such criteria that will allow us to assess the sociodynamics of the process of the social capital forming in urban communities, as well as the process of consolidation.

Understanding community- and system-capacity change over time: A close look at changing social capital in Evidence2Success communities.

Evidence in majority White and low-population areas suggest that community prevention systems can create social capital that is needed to support high-quality implementation and sustainability of evidence-based programs. This study expands prior work by asking the question: How does community social capital change during the implementation of a community prevention system in low-income, highly populated communities of color?Data were collected from Community Board members and Key Leaders in five communities. Linear mixed effect models analyzed data on reports of social capital over time, first as reported by Community Board members then by Key Leaders.Community Board members reported social capital improved significantly over time during the implementation of the Evidence2Success framework. Key Leader reports did not change significantly over time.These findings suggest that community prevention systems implemented in historically marginalized communities may help communities build social capital that is likely to support the dissemination and sustainability of evidence-based programs.

Health promoting sports clubs: from theoretical model to logic model.

A recent literature review indicated that the settings-based approach, as it is applied to sports clubs, is poorly understood and not well implemented. The current study builds on the health promoting sports clubs (HPSC) theoretical model as a basis for a settings-based approach in the sports setting and proposes a logic model to develop and evaluate HPSC in practice. The logic model was established through qualitative, iterative methods in the form of six meetings with eight experts in the field. Qualitative thematic coding was conducted on notes taken and contributions during and between meetings. The results describe a best-practice logic model of HPSC, including inputs, activities, outcomes and impacts at each HPSC level, while case studies illustrate the interactions between levels. Results indicate that a HPSC can have an impact at each level, from individual health to social and community capital. For a sports club, the logic model helps to define how the club's board or management committee can set the conditions for club managers and coaches to support members' health. External stakeholders to clubs are also recognized for their key responsibility in providing different types of resources to support sports clubs to be health promoting. Future research should focus on monitoring and evaluating at each level, including empirical testing system interactions as a whole and interactions across levels.

An influencer pathway framework for sustainable tourism in SIDS ecotourism hotspots: A case of Aripo ecosystems, Trinidad

IntroductionEcotourism hotspots in small island developing states (SIDS) are affected by unsustainable practices characterized by a lack of coordination, management inadequacies, and poor enforcement of policies and regulations. Consequently, depletion of natural resources and reduction in ecosystem value occur, with the undermining of the contribution of tourism to SIDS economies. An ecotourism system that ensures sustainable ecological integrity, economic viability, and social awareness is therefore critical in SIDS.MethodsWe developed an influencer ecotourism pathway framework (IPF) using the Aripo ecosystem as a case study of an ecotourism hotspot by focusing on influencers within a SIDS system to improve collaboration toward the common goal of ecosystem sustainability. The framework was created to reflect the ecosystem attributes and services found in Aripo, the influencers that both negatively and positively impact the environment, possible solutions specific to addressing these negative impacts, and the ecotourism goals of the area.Results and discussionThe framework was used to characterize the natural capital of Aripo in relation to the three (3) main ecosystems: forest, savanna, and man-made Aripo village. The influencer ecotourism framework provides a practical model to be applied for sustainable ecotourism management efforts in tropical small island regions as it identifies ecotourism attributes and ecosystem services, linking them to the potential impacts of influencers on the environment. It also provides useful insights to various influencers about their role in sustainable ecotourism that conserves the natural capital of the destination community while improving socioeconomic conditions.

Critical review of urban community resilience indicators

PurposeUrban communities can be faced with many destructive events that can disrupt the daily functioning of activities and livelihood of people living in the communities. In this regard, during the last couple of years, many governments have put a lot of efforts into building resilient urban communities. Essentially, a resilient urban community has the capacity to anticipate future disasters, prepare for and recover timely from adverse effects of disasters and unexpected circumstances. Considering this, it is therefore important for the need to continuously review the existing urban community resilience indicators, in order to identify emerging ones to enable comprehensive evaluation of urban communities in the future against unexpected events. This study therefore aims to conduct a systematic review to develop and critically analyse the emerging and leading urban community resilience indicators.Design/methodology/approachFollowing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRSIMA) protocol, 53 journal articles were selected using Scopus. The selected papers were subjected to thorough content analysis.FindingsFrom the review, 45 urban community resilience indicators were identified. These indicators were grouped into eight broad categories namely, Socio-demographic, Economic, Institutional Resilience, Infrastructure and Housing Resilience, Collaboration, Community Capital, Risk Data Accumulation and Geographical and Spatial characteristics of community. Further, the results indicated that the U.S had the highest number of publications, followed by Australia, China, New Zealand and Taiwan. In fact, very few studies emanated from developing economies.Originality/valueThe outputs of this study will inform policymakers, practitioners and researchers on the new and emerging indicators that should be considered when evaluating the resilience level of urban communities. The findings will also serve as a theoretical foundation for further detailed empirical investigation.

RESILIENSI MASYARAKAT DI KAWASAN WISATA UBUD DALAM MENGHADAPI PANDEMI COVID-19

The current Covid-19 pandemic has resulted the downfall of world tourism, including Bali. Ubud, which is one of the main stars of Bali tourism, is being severely affected by the pandemic situation because of the dependency of the Ubud community on the tourism sector. This study examines the resilience of the Ubud’s community in facing the Covid-19 pandemic which is influenced by community capital in the form of social capital, economic capital, cultural capital, institutional capital, and infrastructure capital. This community resilience then affects the community's decision in returning into the tourism sector in the post-pandemic situation. Quantitative research is conducted and the data was collected by distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents and supported by literature studies, observations, and interviews with informants related to this research. The results of the study found that social capital, economic capital, and cultural capital were in the good category and had a positive influence on the community resilience in Kawasan Wisata Ubud amid the Covid-19 pandemic. That resilience increases the people's optimism about returning to the tourism sector in the post-pandemic situation.

New Artistic Value In The NFT Market Analyzed Through First-Person Research

In the NFT (non-fungible token) market, collectors are trading works of art with the same awareness as investing in cryptocurrency. In the closed and centralized art scene of the past, it was difficult for artists to make a profit, but the introduction of NFTs has dramatically evolved the art scene. In order to observe such dynamic changes and compare them with the past art scene, the author believed that a first-person research approach was essential. Through creative activities, the author conducted participant observation to identify issues. While marketing activities by artists were not necessary in the existing art market, it became clear that marketing activities by artists on social media are essential in the NFT art market. In communication capitalism, a hierarchy is formed by an economic logic that prioritizes quantity over quality, and this theory also applies to the NFT art market. However, not only selfish investment activities aimed at profit, but also altruistic support activities for artists exist, which stimulate their motivation for creation. Although the value of works changes in the unstable virtual economy, the transparency and high degree of freedom of the NFT market, where artists can directly connect with art fans, contain new possibilities despite some problems.

Social Capital For Rural Community During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Banyumas Regency

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted Indonesian society. In addition to having an effect on the community’s socioeconomic aspects, it also has an effect on the health aspect. The most important factor in preventing and managing the effects of COVID-19 is how to foster social cohesion and make use of all community resources, especially its social capital. Finding out the social capital of rural communities amid the current COVID-19 outbreak is therefore urgently needed. This study’s specific goal is to examine the social capital that exists in rural Banyumas Regency villages during the COVID-19 pandemic and how such social capital influences local activities and rural populations’ social relations. A case study technique and a descriptive qualitative methodology were used to perform this study. The researcher will conduct in-depth interviews and direct observations to gather data. The Banyumas Regency’s rural settlements will be chosen for the study depending on the researcher’s criteria (purposive sampling). The findings demonstrated that several Banyumas Regency village areas had powerful social capital through social networks and community trust. Still, different things also occurred in several other regions, where the level of trust between community members had decreased since the pandemic. The social network that should exist in the community disintegrates or fails to form due to the drop in confidence.
 Keywords: Social Capital, Village Community, COVID-19 Pandemic

Comparative Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition amongst Students in Rural Universities of Sub-Sahara Africa’s Developing Nations

The current wave of technological development globally necessitates certain entrepreneurial abilities for most professionals to succeed in the job market. This paper explores the factors influencing entrepreneurial skills acquisition amongst rural university students in Nigeria and South Africa. The strategic goal of setting up rural universities is to enhance the human capital of the host communities. As a result, an attempt is made to pinpoint challenges that stand in the way of achieving this objective. Data was gathered using a quantitative research methodology. A self-designed questionnaire was used to obtain primary data from 1088 randomly selected third-year students. The study’s outcome indicates that the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies amongst undergraduates in the two higher education institutions was impacted by a number of similar factors, such as the university support system, campus entrepreneurial network, family background, availability of mentors, and entrepreneurship education curriculum. The study focuses on the necessity for universities to address skill shortages among undergraduates. Thus, the results could serve as a guide for policymakers on how to motivate rural university students to obtain globally relevant skills.

Is social capital higher in areas with a higher density of historic assets? Analyses of 11,112 adults living in England.

Previous evidence suggests that engagement with heritage such as visiting heritage sites provides benefits for people's mental and social wellbeing, and helps to establish social capital. However, far less is known about whether living in areas of historic built environment also helps build social capital. Furthermore, it remains unclear how the association between historic built environment and social capital may vary across heritage engagement frequency and areas of deprivation levels. This study was therefore designed to explore the cross-sectional relationship between historic built environment and social capital. Analysis was based on three datasets: Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study Waves 5 (2013/2015) and 6 (2014/2016), 2019 National Heritage List for England, and 2015 English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were applied to estimate the relationships between historic built environment (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, and registered parks and gardens) and social capital (personal relationships, social network support, civic engagement, and trust and cooperative norms). We found that people living in places with greater historic built environment experienced higher levels of personal relationships, social network support, and civic engagement. However, these associations were attenuated once rurality was adjusted. Individuals living in areas of greater levels of historic built environment displayed higher levels of trust and cooperative norms, even after adjusting for all relevant covariates. Heritage engagement frequency was found to moderate the association between historic built environment and personal relationships. Similarly, IMD was also found to moderate the association between historic built environment and trust and cooperative norms. These findings highlight the importance of neighbourhood environment in building social capital in communities. Particularly, areas with heritage assets may provide both socially inviting and aesthetically pleasing environments that could help strengthen community and restore pride in place.

Social capital and stock price crash risk: Evidence from US terrorist attacks

AbstractResearch Question/IssueThis study examines whether social capital's monitoring role intensifies during post‐terrorism periods, as terrorism influences citizens' willingness to change society and increases stakeholder participation. Focusing on firms' stock price crash risk, caused by managers' opportunistic behavior (viz., bad news hoarding), we hypothesize that social capital under terrorism reduces stock price crash risk, as it is expected to play an external monitoring governance role.Research Findings/InsightsUsing US public firms, a county‐level social capital index, and terrorist attacks from 1992 to 2014, we find that social capital surrounding corporate headquarters significantly reduces stock price crash risk during post‐terrorism periods. The results are robust to propensity score matching and instrumental variable regressions, and a battery of sensitivity tests. Overall, we suggest that stakeholders' willingness (that is intensified by terrorism) to monitor firms' bad news hoarding is channeled through social capital. Furthermore, the monitoring role of social capital under terrorism is significant for firms with poor internal monitoring, more institutional investors, less entrenched managers, CEOs preferring bad news hoarding, and accompanied by improvement of analysts' forecasts, suggesting that the impact of external governance may differ by firms' governance characteristics.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsWe contribute to the corporate governance literature by investigating the role of social capital as external governance. While terrorism brings serious damage and economic costs, our study shows that it gives rise to the increased role of social capital, suggesting a novel perspective that terrorism's unexpected socio‐psychological outcome, being non‐financial social threats, leads to positive corporate behaviors by stimulating stakeholders' willingness to monitor firms. Our study is also consistent with the literature that social capital particularly matters in certain periods, such as traumatic events. Furthermore, the impact of a firm's external monitor differs by its governance characteristics, highlighting the importance of corporate governance.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsWe suggest that social capital serves as firms' external monitor by restraining managers' bad news hoarding under certain circumstances, providing implications for policymakers and practitioners. According to our results, traumatic events, such as terrorism, could be viewed as the moderator for the impact of social capital on corporates, emphasizing the need for intensifying social capital (or making it more effective) without tragic incidents. Meanwhile, one might view social capital as the mediator for the increased willingness of individuals to monitor during the post‐terrorism period, highlighting the need for sufficient social capital in the local community.

Training on Making Fruit Salad for Mrs. Pkk Wonotirto Subdistrict, Blitar Regency

“Everthing has potension”. This sentence according to describe many potencial asset Gununggede village, Blitar district to make community development. The main capital of the development community is changing the people paradigm. This paradigm about how peoples look at the village from advantages and disadvantages. People can see what the big capital in the Gununggede village. From Appresciative Inquiry method which begin from discovery till destiny we have two big potencial Gununggede people. First, fruit in the yard is abundant natural produce and still as a daily consumption. Second, member of PKK has a big potencial, but they activity still not focus at development community with creative economy. From there this event is make a creative economy with make a fruit salad. The benefit of this event is fruit not just consumption but also increase income, make a busy woman to have any activity beside domestic activity.

Is social capital always “Capital”?: Measuring and leveraging social capital in online user communities for in-group diffusion

Literature shows that social capital promotes diffusion in online user communities (OUCs). This research aims to show that social capital acts as a double-edged sword by promoting or suppressing in-group diffusion depending on the compatibility of the product with group identity (i.e., a topic or subject of common interest in the community). We analyze the diffusion of newly released music tracks across multiple communities on Last.fm, a world-leading music social network website. Across all three dimensions of social capital (cognitive, relational, and structural dimensions), we consistently find that the compatibility of the product with group identity moderates the relationship between social capital and in-group diffusion; social capital promotes in-group diffusion of songs that are compatible with group identity but suppresses in-group diffusion of songs that are incompatible with group identity. The findings contribute to the social capital and OUC literature and provide interesting implications for OUC managers.

EVALUATION OF RURAL SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE PROTECTION AND RESTORATION OF LAKE URMIA

Lake Urmia is the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km2.This lake is experiencing severe drought from 2000 onward due to persistent general drought in Iran,but also the damming of the local rivers that flow into it, and the pumping of groundwater from the surrounding area.This study investigates the social capital of the Urmia basin's rural community in the protection and restoration of this water body.The method of the study was descriptive statistics in which a total number of 415 questionnaires were distributed among the rural residents. The main focus of this survey was evaluating the people's perception of the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection and assessing their sense of belonging to the lakes.For this purpose,measures of central tendency including the mean,median,and mode,and measures of variability including standard deviation, variance, minimum and maximum variables, kurtosis, and skewness were analyzed.The results of this study show that the people's perception of the significance of conservational measures at lake Urmia is at the medium level, which means more environmental promotional programs need to be undertaken. In addition, The resident's sense of belonging to lake Urmia is at the medium level, which proves the people are not fully aware of the various ecosystem services provided by the lake

Development of a Model of Utilizing Cash Wakaf to Realize a Legal Tourism Area in Medan City

Today's cash waqf has become one of the financing alternatives for fiscal instruments in the economy. The understanding of the benefits of waqf, which so far has only been used for direct worship facilities such as mosques and cemeteries, has shifted in a broader direction, especially to improve welfare and the economy. Cash waqf has two functions: as a means of worship and as a means of improving social welfare. Returns from the management of cash waqf can be used as instruments in poverty alleviation programs through the development of MSMEs and the establishment of tourist areas. The impact of developing tourist areas will be felt directly by the community if, in these tourist areas, MSMEs grow and develop. The utilization of productive waqf with the management of Hajj funds is in accordance with the intent of Law Number 34 of 2014 concerning Hajj Financial Management and Law Number 41 of 2004 concerning Waqf, both of which aim to provide benefit to Muslims. In its implementation, the utilization of waqf funds can be made into a hotel project or infrastructure supporting halal tourism, such as airports, MSME kiosks, and so on. Then the profits obtained will be channeled for the benefit of the people. On the other hand, the development of halal tourism facilities and infrastructure also creates jobs. In addition, Indonesia is already known as a Muslim-friendly tourist destination. This development of halal tourism can optimize Indonesian tourist destinations as Muslim-friendly tourist destinations. Cash waqf as a means of financing can be used for more than one particular sector and only certain models. Cash waqf can be used as an alternative solution for financing all sectors that support the economy, both for consumptive and productive purposes. The benefits of cash waqf for the productive sector can be realized by increasing community capital in developing their businesses, both for basic business capital and for supporting capital for their businesses. What about the attractive design and appearance of the area surrounding where they are attempting to become a community destination for visiting?