Sense of Community Responsibility in Community Collaboratives: Advancing a Theory of Community as Resource and Responsibility

Abstract

This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship aimed at advancing our understanding of the experience of community by empirically investigating sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) in relation to traditional measures of sense of community (SOC) and indices of satisfaction, engagement, and leadership in interorganizational collaborative settings. Findings support the proposition that, although both are related to the experience of community, SOC and SOC-R emphasize different aspects of that experience and operate under different theoretical mechanisms of influence. SOC emphasizes community as a resource which was found to be a more salient aspect in differentiating those who will be more or less satisfied with their experience. In addition, SOC was found to predict general participation in a community collaborative. SOC-R emphasizes the experience of community as a responsibility which appears to be a stronger predictor in explaining higher order engagement requiring greater investment of time and resources. Even more importantly, this study indicates that SOC-R is uniquely equipped to help us advance models of community leadership. As such, it represents an important contribution to expanding our understanding of the factors that drive members' willingness to give of themselves toward collective aims.

Sense of Community Responsibility as a Determinant of Corporate Responsibility

“…Fourth, the resulting themes are also consistent with Sorenson et al's (2009) family point of view construct. Fifth, evidence from this study appears consistent with Nowell and Boyd's (2014) expectation that measures emphasising responsibility for a community to have a stronger direct association to indices of engagement and leadership relative to models that emphasize perceptions of community as a resource. The authors concur with Nowell and Boyd's (2014) contention that SOCR is uniquely equipped to assist in the advancement of community leadership and understanding of the factors that drive individuals and firms' willingness to support their local community.…”

“…SOCR (Nowell and Boyd 2014), a recent variant of SOCI, is defined as a feeling of personal responsibility for the individual and collective well-being of a community of people not directly rooted in an expectation of personal gain. This paper uses the term "community" in two dimensions: territorial and relational.…”

“…They expect measures emphasising responsibility for a community to have a stronger direct association to indices of engagement and leadership relative to models that emphasize perceptions of community as a resource. Nowell and Boyd (2014) examined three variables (satisfaction, engagement, and leadership) against both SOCI and SOCR. They found that: SOCR is a stronger predictor of higher order types of engagement that requires a greater commitment of time and resources.…”

Testing a Theory of Sense of Community and Community Responsibility in Organizations: An Empirical Assessment of Predictive Capacity on Employee Well‐being and Organizational Citizenship

“…The present study seeks to address this gap, examining the relative contribution of two aspects of community experience: sense of community (SOC) and sense of community responsibility (SOC‐R) in relation to employee well‐being and organizational citizenship. In doing so, this study aims to both advance our understanding of the role of community experience in a single organizational setting and test theoretical propositions on the relative contributions of resource versus responsibility aspects of community experience as put forth by Nowell and Boyd (, ).…”

Psychological Sense of Community Responsibility and Diversity in Old Age: A Qualitative Study of Urban Older Adults in India

“…This form of social responsibility has been acknowledged as a central part of PSOC, particularly, in the element "personal investment" included in the "Membership" dimension [55] [56] [57] [58] [59]. In Nowell and Boyd's recent corollary conceptualization of PSOC [58] the concept is understood as "sense of community responsibility" "… the feeling of personal responsibility for the individual and collective well-being of a community of people, not directly rooted in expectations of personal gain" [59]. The way our sample described PSOC-as helping and caring for others in a way benefiting the larger community-largely resemble PSOC-R by definition.…”