Developing a civic capacity index: measuring community capacity to respond to civic challenges

Abstract

PurposeSome communities in the USA are remarkably better at responding to civic challenges than others. These communities are more competent at marshaling their resources – material and human – in service of their own needs. The authors’ purpose in this paper is to enhance their collective understanding of ideas related to community-driven change and to describe the development of a civic capacity index (CCI), a measure of a community's capacity to respond to civic challenges and disruptions like COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a concept mapping process (akin to grounded theory) to develop the CCI. Using this process, a panel of 34 scholars and practitioners of civic leadership and civic engagement worked together to create measurable descriptors of civic capacity.FindingsThe CCI measures dynamic processes related to collective leadership, inclusion of diverse voices, how institutions and coalitions address shared challenges and collaboration among community members. Sample data from several states show the CCI's scales to have high internal reliabilities and to correlate strongly with validation scales such as collective efficacy, social justice and community connectedness. Confirmatory factor analyses support a bifactor model of a general CCI factor and six CCI scales.Practical implicationsWith the help of the CCI, civic actors can take advantage of existing civic capacity, understand where it is lacking and build resilience for the future.Originality/valueTo date, most scholars have used qualitative research to determine the elements of civic capacity. The authors wanted to know what civic capacity looks like in sufficient detail to assess the extent to which it is present or not in a community. Other efforts to quantify or assess civic capacity or related ideas are less comprehensive or lack the specificity to provide guidance for building and mobilizing it in communities. This work enhances our understanding of leadership in the civic arena, a little understood aspect of leadership studies.

Editorial: Public leadership research trajectories: articulating a new agenda

“…Although the research published in the International Journal of Public Leadership has been contributing to the evolution of all aspectspolitical, administrative and civicof the public leadership literature, the vast majority of the manuscripts that are published in this journal pertain to aspects of political or administrative (public services) leadership. As such, moving forward, I would especially welcome more submissions that pertain to civic leadership (for example, Chrislip et al, 2023). This includes studies that deal with various actors and processes in the voluntary or community sector and perhaps even the private sector as long as the leadership in question is undertaken to pursue the common good or contribute to the creation of public value (Moore, 1995;Getha-Taylor et al, 2011).…”

Digital inclusion, online participation and health promotion: promising practices from community-led participatory journalism

“…By building and supporting capacity, and transferring resources toward new ways of engaging online, communityled participatory journalism shares power rather than concentrating it in existing networks, involves more of the community in dialogue, and builds long term capacity rather than extracting community knowledge for transactional reports and stories. For institutions struggling to create opportunities for collaboration and access (19), this is the work of digital inclusion: the direct and supported engagement, voices and stories of people facing health inequities, in online networks. Communityled participatory journalism also generates and shares new public knowledge rooted in the strengths of equity-deserving communities.…”