It’s Not Just Participation: Social Network Pathways Linking Place-Based Organizations to Civic Engagement and Social Capital

Background and Purpose:
Place-based organizations (PBOs) play a vital role in fostering neighborhood wellbeing, yet research often isolates individual participation from the relational networks that sustain community life. Although existing studies demonstrate the importance of social ties for social capital and civic engagement, far less is known about how residents’ social network connections to PBOs shape these outcomes. Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and informed by organizational brokerage and neighborhood processes theories, this study had two primary aims: (1) to examine unadjusted relationships between PBO engagement (i.e., personal and network PBO engagement) and residents’ perceptions of civic engagement and social capital and (2) to assess the incremental contributions of personal PBO and network PBO beyond covariates.

Methods:
Data were collected through a cross-sectional community self-report survey of residents (N = 99) in a Midwestern neighborhood. Independent variables included personal engagement with a local PBO (2 items; ordinal-level), social network ties to a PBO (2 items; ordinal-level), and demographic characteristics (i.e., covariates). Dependent variables included two civic engagement outcomes (sense of personal agency and personal civic engagement sum scores) and three neighborhood social capital outcomes (frequency of casual connection to neighbors, frequency of meaningful connection to neighbors, and belief in supportive neighbors sum scores). Analyses proceeded in two stages. For Aim 1, simple linear regression analyses (i.e., bivariate analyses) were conducted to examine unadjusted associations between each PBO variable and each outcome. For Aim 2, 3-step hierarchical OLS regression models were estimated for each outcome (Model 1: covariates; Model 2: covariates plus personal PBO; Model 3: covariates + personal PBO + network PBO).

Results:
Bivariate results revealed statistically significant relationships between all PBO variables and sense of personal agency and civic engagement. Three of four PBO variables were significant for frequency of causal connection to neighbors, frequency of meaningful connection to neighbors, and belief in supportive neighbors. Hierarchical results showed that the set of personal PBO variables was significant beyond covariates for all outcomes: sense of personal agency (R2 change: .12, p=.004), personal civic engagement (R2 change: .17, p<.001), frequency of causal connection to neighbors (R2 change: .12, p= .002), frequency of meaningful connection to neighbors (R2 change: .24, p<.001), and belief in supportive neighbors (R2 change: .05, p= .04). Hierarchical results demonstrated that the set of network PBO variables was significant beyond personal PBO variables for: sense of personal agency (R2 change: .14, p= .001), personal civic engagement (R2 change: .09, p=.001), and belief in supportive neighbors (R2 change: .09, p= .004).

Conclusions and Implications:
Findings indicate that PBOs influence neighborhood wellbeing not only through individual participation but through network-based pathways. By demonstrating how residents’ social ties connected to PBOs shape civic engagement and social capital, this study advances social work research by centering relational processes and elevating community knowledge through a CBPR approach. Implications underscore the need for community practice, program design, and policy efforts that leverage PBOs to intentionally cultivate social connectivity as a core mechanism of change.