Social Capital and Community Resilience in Urban Neighbourhoods: The Mediating Role of Collective Efficacy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66348/hsr.26.v1.n1.a31Keywords:
Social capital; community resilience; collective efficacy; urban neighbourhoods; social networks; civic participation; structural equation modelling (SEM).Abstract
Community resilience has become a central concern in contemporary urban studies, particularly in contexts marked by increasing environmental, social, and economic uncertainties. This study examines the effect of social capital on community resilience in urban neighbourhoods, with collective efficacy introduced as a mediating mechanism. Grounded in Social Capital Theory, the study conceptualises social capital through three dimensions: social trust, social networks, and civic participation. A quantitative research design is employed using a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to analyse survey data collected from urban residents. The findings reveal that all three dimensions of social capital significantly and positively influence community resilience. Social networks emerge as the strongest predictor, followed by social trust and civic participation. The results further indicate that collective efficacy significantly mediates the relationship between social capital dimensions and community resilience, highlighting its critical role as a psychological and social mechanism through which resilience is strengthened. The model demonstrates strong explanatory and predictive power, confirming the robustness of the proposed framework. This study contributes to the literature by integrating multidimensional social capital with collective efficacy in explaining urban resilience and offers practical insights for policymakers seeking to enhance community-based resilience strategies.
Received: 2026-04-12 | Revised: 2026-06-02 | Accepted: 2026-06-23 | Published: 2026-06-30
Declarations
Ethics and Guidelines: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The ethical approval specifically covers the research procedures and data collection activities conducted for this study.
Consent to participate: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection. Consent was obtained using a standardized written form, signed by each participant before participation in the survey.
Consent to publish: The authors have provided consent to publish.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Data availability statement: Data will be made available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Clinical Trial Number: Not Applicable.
Declaration of using generative AI: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used ChatGPT in order to correct the grammatical errors. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, H.K.; methodology, H.K.; formal analysis, H.K.; writing—original draft preparation, H.K.; writing—review and editing, H.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Data will be made available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.
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