Showing papers on "Collective efficacy published in 2002"

The role of different levels of leadership in predicting self- and collective efficacy: evidence for discontinuity.

Abstract: This study identified potential discontinuities in the antecedents of efficacy beliefs across levels of analysis, with a particular focus on the role of leadership climate at different organizational levels. Random coefficient modeling analyses conducted on data collected from 2,585 soldiers in 86 combat units confirmed that soldiers’ experience, role clarity, and psychological strain predicted self-efficacy to a greater extent than did leadership climate. Also, leadership climate at a higher organizational level related to self-efficacy through role clarity, whereas leadership climate at a lower organizational level related to self-efficacy through psychological strain. Group-level analyses identified leadership climate at a higher organizational level as the strongest predictor of collective efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Transformational Leadership in Work Groups The Role of Empowerment, Cohesiveness, and Collective-Efficacy on Perceived Group Performance

Abstract: It has been argued that transformational leaders increase group effectiveness by empowering followers to perform their job independently from the leader, highlight the importance of cooperation in ...

Neighborhood structural disadvantage, collective efficacy, and self-rated physical health in an urban setting.

Abstract: Our analyses examine the role neighborhood structural characteristics--including concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and immigrant concentration--as well as collective efficacy in promoting physical health among neighborhood residents. Using data from the 1990 census, the 1994 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, and the 1991-2000 Metropolitan Chicago Information Center-Metro Survey, we model the effects of individual and neighborhood level factors on self-rated physical health employing hierarchical ordered logit models. First, we find that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is not significantly related to self-rated physical health when individual level demographic and health background are controlled. Second, individuals residing in neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy report better overall health. Finally, socioeconomic disadvantage and collective efficacy condition the positive effects of individual level education on physical health.

The Span of Collective Efficacy: Extending Social Disorganization Theory to Partner Violence

Abstract: This research applies the social disorganization perspective on the neighborhood-level determinants of crime to partner violence. The analysis brings data from the 1990 Decennial Census together with data from the 1994–1995 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, the 1994–1995 Chicago homicide data, and data from the 1995–1997 Chicago Health and Social Life Survey. The findings of this study indicate that collective efficacy—neighborhood cohesion and informal social control capacity—is negatively associated with both intimate homicide rates and nonlethal partner violence. Collective efficacy exerts a more powerful regulatory effect on nonlethal violence in neighborhoods where tolerance of intimate violence is low. Collective efficacy also increases the likelihood that women will disclose conflict in their relationships to various potential sources of support.

Social integration, individual perceptions of collective efficacy, and fear of crime in three cities

Abstract: Several rival explanations have been advanced to account for fear of crime among neighborhood residents. Social integration is the least developed concept in this regard. We assess the mediating role that perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy, defined as the trustworthiness of neighbors and their willingness to intervene as informal social control agents, have in the relationship between social integration and fear of crime. Our data were obtained from random sample surveys of residents conducted in three cities. Structural equation models indicate that social integration operates through perceptions of collective efficacy in predicting fear of crime, and similar results appear across three cities.

Toward an Organizational Model of Achievement in High Schools: The Significance of Collective Efficacy

Abstract: In this study, a theoretical model to explain school achievement in high schools is developed and tested. Collective efficacy is the key variable in a proposed theoretical system that also includes academic press and socioeconomic status. The authors postulate that both socioeconomic status and academic press have positive effects on school achievement in mathematics as well as improve the collective efficacy of the school. Collective efficacy, in turn, is hypothesized to have a positive effect on school mathematics achievement. Finally, the analysis concludes with a discussion of strategies to enhance collective efficacy of schools.

Social Contexts and Urban Adolescent Outcomes: The Interrelated Effects of Neighborhoods, Families, and Peers on African-American Youth

Abstract: Multilevel data are used to assess how three interrelated contexts-family, peer group, and neighborhood-influence the social functioning of urban African-American adolescent youth, a group believed to be especially "at-risk" due to high rates of exposure to contextual disadvantage and its associated ills. The analysis is designed to test the various pathways that neighborhoods influence, both directly and indirectly (via their impact on families and peers), two adolescent outcomes-prosocial competency and problem behavior. Neighborhood effects are relatively modest, operate indirectly via their effect on parenting and peer groups, and are transmitted through neighborhood social organization (i.e., collective efficacy), rather than neighborhood structure. Parental monitoring and peer quality are higher in neighborhoods with greater collective efficacy, which also moderates the effect of parental monitoring on both youth outcomes.

A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Measurement of Collective Efficacy: The Development of a Short Form.

Abstract: The present study reports on the development of a 12-item Likert-type measure of collective efficacy in schools. Designed to assess the extent to which a faculty believes in its conjoint capability...

Community Psychology Perspectives on Social Capital Theory and Community Development Practice

Abstract: Concepts and research from community psychology can inform community development practice by reframing social capital theory. Social capital (SC) is generally defined and measured at the interpersonal, community, institutional, or societal levels in terms of networks (bridging) and norms of reciprocity and trust (bonding) within those networks. SC should be analyzed in a multi-level ecological framework in terms of both individual psychological and behavioral conceptions (sense of community, collective efficacy—or empowerment, neighboring, and citizen participation) and institutional and community network-level conceptions. Excessive concern for social cohesion undermines the ability to confront or engage in necessary conflict, and thus, it dis-empowers the community. Instead of emphasizing social cohesion, “network-bridging” opportunities to increase power, access, and learning should be emphasized. Institutional and community network analysis shows how SC operates at those levels and where to target ser...

Determinants and structural relation of personal efficacy to collective efficacy.

Abstract: Dans cette recherche, on eprouve un modele structurel concernant l’impact du statut socioeconomique sur l’efficacite individuelle percue et le rapport qu’elle entretient avec la perception de l’efficacite collective. Dans les travaux sociodemographiques, les jeunes, par comparaison aux plus âges, s’estiment moins efficaces dans la gestion de leur vie professionnelle, de leurs relations intimes et de leur situation financiere, mais plus aptes a promouvoir le changement social. Les hommes ont plus que les femmes le sentiment de pouvoir contribuer a la solution des problemes sociaux. En accord avec le modele structurel enonce, le statut socioeconomique contribue a la fois a la perception de l’efficacite personnelle dans la gestion des evenements de sa propre vie et dans la participation a l’amelioration de la societe. Ces deux aspects de l’efficacite individuelle percue contribuent a leur tour fortement a la conviction qu’une action collective peut effectivement induire le changement social. Un autre modele ou l’efficacite collective percue devient la cause premiere de l’efficacite individuelle percue se revela moins proche des donnees recueillies. This study tested a structural model regarding the impact of socioeconomic status on people’s perceived individual efficacy and its link to their perceived collective efficacy. In sociodemographic analyses younger participants, compared to their older counterparts, judged themselves less efficacious to manage their worklife, intimate partnerships, and financial condition, but of higher efficacy in promoting social change. Men had a higher sense of efficacy than women to contribute to the solution of social problems. In accord with the posited structural model, socioeconomic status contributed to both perceived personal efficacy to manage one’s life circumstances and individual efficacy to contribute to the betterment of societal conditions. Both forms of perceived individual efficacy, in turn, contributed substantially to a sense of collective efficacy to effect social change through unified action. An alternative model in which perceived collective efficacy is assigned causal primacy affecting perceived individual efficacy provided a poorer fit to the data.

Fear of crime, social ties, and collective efficacy: Maybe masquerading measurement, maybe déj`a vu all over again

Abstract: (2002). Fear of crime, social ties, and collective efficacy: Maybe masquerading measurement, maybe dej`a vu all over again. Justice Quarterly: Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 773-792.

Goals and marital satisfaction: Perceived support for personal goals and collective efficacy for collective goals.

Abstract: This study examined the role of personal and shared goals in marital satisfaction. Two constructs were investigated. Perceived support for personal goals was defined as the degree to which a spouse views the marital relationship as facilitating or hindering achievement of his or her personal goals. Collective efficacy for collective goals was defined as the degree to which a spouse believes that the couple is capable of accomplishing its shared goals. It was hypothesized that each variable would make a unique contribution to the prediction of marital satisfaction. Results of a survey of 117 married couples supported this hypothesis.

Empowerment Through the Sport Context: A Model to Guide Research for Individuals with Disability

Abstract: Our purpose is to propose a model of "Empowerment through the sport context" to guide psychosocial research in disability sport. We discuss the concept of empowerment in relation to sport for individuals with disabilities. Expanding upon the work of Hutzler (1990), we include three levels of empowerment (societal, group, and individual level) in our approach. Important moderators are age of onset of disability, gender, and type of disability. Important mediators are (a) at the individual level, achievement goals, identity, and self-efficacy; (b) at the group level, motivational climate, group identity, and collective efficacy; and finally, (c) at the societal level, the cultural context and political efficacy. Several methodological considerations are discussed, and various solutions are suggested. We also discuss the critiques that have emerged in relation to the use of the empowerment concept.

Understanding racial-ethnic and societal differentials in STI.

Abstract: Do we need to move beyond behavioural epidemiology? Prevalence and incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) vary across societies1 and across subpopulations defined by age, race-ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.2, 3 The efforts to account for such variation and explain it, that can be found in the STD literature, have in general not differentiated between individual and population level health, or between population and individual level determinants of individual STD outcomes.4 Perhaps this pattern reflects the predominant paradigm in modern epidemiology which has been termed the “risk factor” paradigm and has been linked to “biomedical individualism” as its underlying theoretical foundation.5, 6 This theoretical approach views populations simply as reflective of individual cases while considering social determinants of disease to be at best secondary, if not irrelevant.7 In the past several years, the risk factor paradigm in epidemiology has been seriously challenged by leading epidemiologists 8, 9 and a new paradigm that would emphasise the broader context of individual risk factors has been called for. It has been suggested that whereas traditional epidemiologists ask the question “Why are some individuals healthy and others not?” the social epidemiologist is concerned with the question “Why are some societies healthy while others are not?”10 Social epidemiology has focused on features of the economy, culture, politics, and the law. Examples of societal characteristics that have received attention include macroeconomic factors such as poverty, unemployment, and income distribution; and features of social relationships such as social cohesion, social exclusion, and sex and race relationships.11 Also, a renewed interest in effects of neighbourhood environments on morbidity and mortality has emerged.12–14 Work in social epidemiology has emphasised neighbourhoods and the community; and considerations of social capital and collective efficacy have usually been applied to chronic diseases, mortality, violence, and …

Theory and research in educational administration

Abstract: This text covers such topics as: organizational learning in high-stakes accountability environments; bridging and buffering parent involvement in schools; alternative views of the task of teaching; and collective efficacy and school organization.

The psychology of collective political protest.

Abstract: Individuals act differently within the political process; behavior can range from passive acceptance of a situation to violent riots. This chapter outlines various theoretical explanations as to why these differences in behavior occur and what psychological processes mediate them. In the social psychological explanations of collective political protest the emphasis has changed in recent years. Traditional theories concerned individual decision making processes whereas more recent research has focused on the intergroup context of the political environment. This chapter concentrates on the three currently predominant approaches; expectancy-value theory ([e.g. Walker & Mann, 1987e.g. Klandermans, 1997), relative deprivation theory (e.g. Walker & Mann, 1987) and social identity theory (e.g. Tajfel & Turner, 1979). It considers recent research that attempts to integrate these approaches with each other (Simon, Loewy, Sturmer, Weber, Freytang, Habig, Kampmeier & Spahlinger, 1998; e.g. Kawakami & Dion, 1995), and we conclude by presenting a study that suggests collective efficacy is an important motivator of collective action, but that social identification moderates this relationship, thereby acting as a crucial psychological platform for collective action.

Community Participation and Regional Crime

Abstract: While it may appear intuitive that participation in community-oriented activities corresponds to lower rates of violent and property crime, this paper seeks to test the proposition with hard data. Local data on community participation are not available in Australia in any systematic format, so this paper worked from local membership in Scouts Australia and in some State Emergency Services activities to examine crime rates against community participation levels. Using data for local government areas in the mainland eastern states, the study shows that: * crime rates are lower in local areas with high levels of participation in community-oriented activities; and * a doubling in the rate of membership in community organisations has the potential to reduce violent crime by between one-fifth and one-third, and property crime by between one-twentieth and one-tenth. Increased participation in community organisations may prove distinctively beneficial in rural Australia. Out-migration has been identified as a major problem in rural centres. The findings from this study suggest that participation has the potential to overcome some of the negative impact that high population mobility has on local levels of crime. Adam Gravear Director The social disorganisation model of crime emphasises the effects of a community's ability to realise the common values of its residents and maintain effective social controls on crime (Sampson & Groves 1989). Sampson (1995) identified the following three major dimensions of the social disorganisation model: * a community's ability to supervise and control (teenage) group-level behaviour; * the density of relational networks - communities with strong, dense and high-quality interpersonal networks have a greater capacity for fostering environments that constrain deviant behaviour compared to communities with weak, loose and low-quality networks (Bursik & Grasmick 1993; Glaeser, Sacerdote & Scheinkman 1996; Bellair 1997); and * the rate of participation in voluntary associations and local organisations, as well as the stability and density of social institutions - low participation in local activities and weak community organisational structures affect a community's capacity to reduce local crime. A number of factors mediate the relationship between these dimensions and local crime. Social cohesion among neighbours, combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good (or "collective efficacy"), has been linked to reductions in violence (Bursik & Grasmick 1993; Sampson, Raudenbush & Earls 1997). Crime is high in neighbourhoods with high levels of disorder and low levels of neighbourhood interaction and trust (Snell 2001). The distribution of disorder is related to factors such as level of poverty and degree of instability, which in turn disrupts the relational networks within a community. Central to the social disorganisation perspective on crime are change and adaptability (Bursik & Grasmick 1993). Processes of economic change may have major effects on the social, environmental and physical characteristics of localities. Findings in Rephan (1999) indicate that major change in the structural characteristics of local economies impacts on residential mobility, manifested in commuting behaviour, migration and the presence of a transient population. Economic change also affects the social composition of local areas through its influence in labour market outcomes, family formation patterns, income, education, the ethnic mix of residents, age structure and demographic patterns. Research in Australia indicates that the impact of economic transformation on the residential and socioeconomic structure of local areas is in turn mediated by population size and distance from major service centres (Carcach 2001a). The relationship between population size and local crime rates is not clear cut. …

Collective Efficacy and Group Functioning: The Effect of Performance Feedback on Efficacy Assessments, Goal Setting, Task Persistence and Overall Performance

Abstract: : This study examined the effect of collective efficacy on group functioning across a series of cognitive tasks. Specifically, this experiment used performance feedback to manipulate efficacy levels in order to investigate the effect of efficacy on group goal setting, task persistence, and overall performance. The effect of experimental manipulations and sequence were investigated at both the task specific (prediction for current task) and general efficacy (estimates of general competence on such tasks) levels. Finally, group behavior was examined across a series of tasks in order to investigate the dynamic properties of collective efficacy.