Showing papers on "Collective efficacy published in 2009"
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The authors find that legal cynicism explains why homicide persisted in certain Chicago neighborhoods during the 1990s despite declines in poverty and declines in violence citywide.
Abstract: Over the past two decades, sociologists have given considerable attention to identifying the neighborhood-level structural and social-interactional mechanisms which influence an array of social outcomes such as crime, educational attainment, collective action, mortality, and morbidity. Yet, cultural mechanisms are often overlooked in quantitative studies of neighborhood effects, largely because of outdated notions of culture. This paper aims to inject a much needed cultural dimension into neighborhood effects research, and, in the process, provide an explanation for the paradoxical co-existence of law-abiding beliefs and law violating behavior that characterize so many disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. To these ends, we explore the origins and consequences of legal cynicism. Legal cynicism refers to a cultural frame in which people perceive the law, and the police in particular, as illegitimate, unresponsive, and ill-equipped to ensure public safety. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we find that legal cynicism explains neighborhood variation in homicide rates net of neighborhood structural conditions, collective efficacy, and tolerant attitudes toward deviance and violence. Moreover, our results reveal that legal cynicism explains the persistence of homicide in certain Chicago neighborhoods during the 1990s when homicide declined drastically city-wide.
479 citations
TL;DR: Meta-analytic results reveal that collective efficacy was significantly related to group performance and when tested in a structural equation modeling analysis, collective efficacy fully mediated the relationship between group potency and group performance.
Abstract: The authors examined relationships among collective efficacy, group potency, and group performance. Meta-analytic results (based on 6,128 groups, 31,019 individuals, 118 correlations adjusted for dependence, and 96 studies) reveal that collective efficacy was significantly related to group performance (.35). In the proposed nested 2-level model, collective efficacy assessment (aggregation and group discussion) was tested as the 1st-level moderator. It showed significantly different average correlations with group performance (.32 vs. .45), but the group discussion assessment was homogeneous, whereas the aggregation assessment was heterogeneous. Consequently, there was no 2nd-level moderation for the group discussion, and heterogeneity in the aggregation group was accounted for by the 2nd-level moderator, task interdependence (high, moderate, and low levels were significant; the higher the level, the stronger the relationship). The 2nd and 3rd meta-analyses indicated that group potency was related to group performance (.29) and to collective efficacy (.65). When tested in a structural equation modeling analysis based on meta-analytic findings, collective efficacy fully mediated the relationship between group potency and group performance. The authors suggest future research and convert their findings to a probability of success index to help facilitate practice.
414 citations
TL;DR: The potential for the place-based social processes found in community gardens to support collective efficacy, a powerful mechanism for enhancing the role of gardens in promoting health, is discussed.
345 citations
TL;DR: The normative alignment model suggests that one solution to promoting ongoing commitment to collective action lies in crafting a social identity with a relevant pattern of norms for emotion, efficacy, and action.
Abstract: In this article the authors explore the social psychological processes underpinning sustainable commitment to a social or political cause. Drawing on recent developments in the collective action, identity formation, and social norm literatures, they advance a new model to understand sustainable commitment to action. The normative alignment model suggests that one solution to promoting ongoing commitment to collective action lies in crafting a social identity with a relevant pattern of norms for emotion, efficacy, and action. Rather than viewing group emotion, collective efficacy, and action as group products, the authors conceptualize norms about these as contributing to a dynamic system of meaning, which can shape ongoing commitment to a cause. By exploring emotion, efficacy, and action as group norms, it allows scholars to reenergize the theoretical connections between collective identification and subjective meaning but also allows for a fresh perspective on complex questions of causality.
289 citations
TL;DR: The concept of resilience has been used in developmental psychology and psychiatry to describe individuals' capacities to achieve well-being and thrive despite significant adversity as mentioned in this paper, which is also a useful concept in ecology where it draws attention to the ability of ecosystems to adapt to environmental stress through transformation.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the importance of community resilience for Aboriginal health and well-being. The concept of resilience has been used in developmental psychology and psychiatry to describe individuals’ capacities to achieve well-being and thrive despite significant adversity. Resilience is also a useful concept in ecology where it draws attention to the ability of ecosystems to adapt to environmental stress through transformation. The study of community resilience builds on these concepts, to understand positive responses to adversity at the level of families, communities and larger social systems. Despite historical and ongoing conditions of adversity and hardship many Aboriginal cultures and communities have survived and done well. In this review, we critically assess the various definitions of resilience as applied to individuals. We then examine resilience as applied to families, communities and larger social systems. We examine links between the concept of resilience and social capital. We then consider interventions that can promote resilience and well-being in Aboriginal communities. These include strengthening social capital, networks and support; revitalization of language, enhancing cultural identity and spirituality; supporting families and parents to insure healthy child development; enhancing local control and collective efficacy; building infrastructure (material, human and informational); increasing economic opportunity and diversification; and respecting human diversity. We also discuss methods of measuring community resilience, examining advantages and disadvantages to each method. Community resilience is a concept that resonates with Aboriginal perspectives because it focuses on collective strengths from an ecological or systemic perspective.
285 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that neighborhood collective efficacy may have a protective effect on children living in deprived contexts and collective efficacy did not predict the rate of change in antisocial behavior between the ages of 5 and 10.
Abstract: Youth growing up in deprived neighborhoods are at risk for poor educational, emotional, and health outcomes. Research has consistently linked neighborhood deprivation to problem behaviors such as substance use, teenage childbearing, and conduct disorder in adolescence (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). However, less is known about how neighborhood-level factors influence antisocial behavior among children. The current study maps the developmental course of children’s antisocial behavior from age 5 to age 10 across deprived versus affluent neighborhoods and tests whether neighborhood-level social processes have protective effects on children’s development. More specifically, we tested whether neighborhood deprivation influences children’s levels of antisocial behavior at school entry or their rate of change in antisocial behavior across time. Moving beyond neighborhood deprivation, we also tested whether the degree of collective efficacy within a neighborhood—the level of social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good—had an independent effect on children’s developmental course of antisocial behavior. This study is novel in that we (a) focused on a key childhood developmental period for predicting long-term prognosis for antisocial behavior, (b) applied independent state-of-the-art assessments of the neighborhoods in which children live, and (c) asked whether neighborhood-level strengths, such as collective efficacy, protect children growing up in deprivation.
218 citations
TL;DR: The YARP approach empowered individual youth and groups of youth (youth networks) to engage in social action in their schools, communities and at the policy level, which in turn affected their attitudes and behaviors.
Abstract: Youth Action Research for Prevention (YARP), a federally funded research and demonstration intervention, utilizes youth empowerment as the cornerstone of a multi-level intervention designed to reduce and/or delay onset of drug and sex risk, while increasing individual and collective efficacy and educational expectations. The intervention, located in Hartford Connecticut, served 114 African-Caribbean and Latino high school youth in a community education setting and a matched comparison group of 202 youth from 2001 to 2004. The strategy used in YARP begins with individuals, forges group identity and cohesion, trains youth as a group to use research to understand their community better (formative community ethnography), and then engages them in using the research for social action at multiple levels in community settings (policy, school-based, parental etc.) Engagement in community activism has, in turn, an effect on individual and collective efficacy and individual behavioral change. This approach is unique insofar as it differs from multilevel interventions that create approaches to attack multiple levels simultaneously. We describe the YARP intervention and employ qualitative and quantitative data from the quasi-experimental evaluation study design to assess the way in which the YARP approach empowered individual youth and groups of youth (youth networks) to engage in social action in their schools, communities and at the policy level, which in turn affected their attitudes and behaviors.
190 citations
TL;DR: Results showed that the group-based interaction boosted commitment to action especially when primed with an (injunctive) outrage norm, providing an intriguing instance of the power of group interaction (particularly where strengthened with emotion norms) to bolster commitment to positive social change.
Abstract: This paper adopts an intergroup perspective on helping as collective action to explore the ways to boost motivation amongst people in developed countries to join the effort to combat poverty and preventable disease in developing countries. Following van Zomeren, Spears, Leach, and Fischer's (2004) model of collective action, we investigated the role of norms about an emotional response (moral outrage) and beliefs about efficacy in motivating commitment to take action amongst members of advantaged groups. Norms about outrage and efficacy were harnessed to an opinion-based group identity (Bliuc, McGarty, Reynolds, & Muntele, 2007) and explored in the context of a novel group-based interaction method. Results showed that the group-based interaction boosted commitment to action especially when primed with an (injunctive) outrage norm. This norm stimulated a range of related effects including increased identification with the pro-international development opinion-based group, and higher efficacy beliefs. Results provide an intriguing instantiation of the power of group interaction (particularly where strengthened with emotion norms) to bolster commitment to positive social change.
173 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated dimensions of quality of life at work (compassion fatigue, Burnout and Compassion satisfaction), and their relationships with coping strategies and some psychosocial variables (Sense of Community, Collective Efficacy and Self-efficacy).
Abstract: This study, involving a sample of 764 emergency workers, investigates dimensions of quality of life at work (Compassion fatigue, Burnout and Compassion satisfaction), and their relationships with Coping strategies and some psychosocial variables (Sense of Community, Collective Efficacy and Self-efficacy). Results indicate the usefulness of distinguishing between positive and negative indicators of emergency workers’ quality of life. Compassion satisfaction is positively correlated with efficacy beliefs, Sense of Community and the use of Active coping strategies. Burnout and Compassion fatigue are especially correlated with the use of dysfunctional coping strategies like distraction and self-criticism. Volunteer emergency workers enjoy a higher well being than full-time professional workers. Results and their implications for interventions aimed at increasing rescue workers’ quality of life by enhancing psychosocial competences are discussed.
134 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the independent and interdependent influences of school, neighborhood, and familial contexts through an analysis of student suspension and juvenile arrest, finding that school-based and family-based informal social controls additively combine to reduce the likelihood of suspension and arrest.
Abstract: Scholars of human development argue that a variety of social contexts affect youth development and that the interdependency of these contexts bears on the shape of human lives. However, few studies of contextual effects have attempted to model the effects of school, neighborhood, and family context at the same time, or to explore the relative and interdependent impact of these contexts on youth outcomes. This study provides an examination of the independent and interdependent influences of school, neighborhood, and familial contexts through an analysis of student suspension and juvenile arrest. Findings reveal that school-based and family-based informal social controls additively combine to reduce the likelihood of suspension and arrest. Moreover, for suspension, results support the hypothesis that an interdependent compensatory relation is present between the extent of collective efficacy in schools and in the surrounding neighborhood; school collective efficacy has a controlling influence on the likelihood of suspension that becomes even stronger in the absence of neighborhood collective efficacy. However, for arrest, an accentuating effect of school-based social controls exists rather than a compensatory effect. A lack of neighborhood collective efficacy and a lack of school-based social controls combine to exert a substantial increase in the likelihood of arrest.
123 citations
TL;DR: Feature of the neighborhood social environment may need to be considered in combinations to understand their role in shaping health and health behavior.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the social distance between leaders and followers as a cross-level moderator of the relationships between senior level managers' transformational leadership and individual-level outcomes.
Abstract: Following recent interest in contextual factors and how they might influence the effects of transformational leadership, we consider the social distance between leaders and followers as a cross-level moderator of the relationships between senior level managers’ transformational leadership and individual-level outcomes. Our sample comprised 268 individuals in 50 leader-follower groups. Results revealed that high social distance reduced or neutralized transformational leadership’s association with followers’ emulation of leader behavior. In contrast, high levels of social distance between leaders and followers enhanced the effects of transformational leadership on individuals’ perceptions of their units’ positive emotional climate and individuals’ sense of collective efficacy. Results not only highlight the importance of social distance as a contextual variable affecting leader-follower relations but also suggest that the same contextual variable may have differential effects, enhancing some relationships a...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented a theoretical approach to urban crime and criminogenic conditions that emphasizes the potential for competition between two types of social capital, social network based reciprocated exchange and collective efficacy, in the regulation of neighborhood crime.
Abstract: The potential “downside” of social capital has received relatively limited attention in research to date. In this article, the author presents a theoretical approach to urban crime and criminogenic conditions that emphasizes the potential for competition between two types of social capital, social network—based reciprocated exchange and collective efficacy, in the regulation of neighborhood crime. This “negotiated coexistence” approach hypothesizes that as network interaction and reciprocated exchange among neighborhood residents increase, offenders and conventional residents become increasingly interdependent. In turn, the social capital provided by network integration of offenders may diminish the regulatory effectiveness of collective efficacy. Using data from the 1990 Census and the 1994-1995 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, the author tests the negotiated-coexistence model against competing expectations regarding the association between networks, collective efficacy, and crime. Consistent with the negotiated-coexistence approach, ordinary least squares and spatial regression models of property crime and social disorder indicate that the regulatory effects of collective efficacy on crime are reduced in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of network interaction and reciprocated exchange.
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between physical disorder (e.g., broken windows and poor building conditions), fear, collective efficacy, and social disorder in a large mid-Atlantic city and found that the effects of physical disorder may operate through increased fear and decreased collective efficacy to affect perceptions of threatening or violent interactions among people.
Abstract: This article considers school climate and perceptions of social disorder. When a school is characterized by disorder or physical risk, basic educational goals and processes are jeopardized. We use survey data from 33 public schools serving grades 6–8 in a large mid‐Atlantic city to examine relationships among physical disorder (e.g., broken windows and poor building conditions), fear, collective efficacy, and social disorder. Path analyses reveal a direct association between physical disorder and social disorder even when prior levels of collective efficacy are controlled—a finding consistent with traditional broken‐windows theories. Further, there is evidence that the effects of physical disorder may be operating through increased fear and decreased collective efficacy to affect perceptions of threatening or violent interactions among people.
TL;DR: Estimating collective efficacy and its role as a precursor of community engagement to improve depression care in the African American community of South Los Angeles found that CPPR events may also increase collective efficacy.
Abstract: Objectives. We used community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) to measure collective efficacy and its role as a precursor of community engagement to improve depression care in the African American community of South Los Angeles.Methods. We collected survey data from participants at arts events sponsored by a CPPR workgroup. Both exploratory (photography exhibit; n = 747) and confirmatory (spoken word presentations; n = 104) structural equation models were developed to examine how knowledge and attitudes toward depression influenced community engagement.Results. In all models, collective efficacy to improve depression care independently predicted community engagement in terms of addressing depression (B = 0.64–0.97; P < .001). Social stigma was not significantly associated with collective efficacy or community engagement. In confirmatory analyses, exposure to spoken word presentations and previous exposure to CPPR initiatives increased perceived collective efficacy to improve depression care (B = 0....
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: A comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations’ managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first- order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions.
Abstract: Community psychologists have long worked with community-based human service organizations to build participatory processes. These efforts largely aim at building participatory practices within the current individual-wellness paradigm of human services. To address collective wellness, human service organizations need to challenge their current paradigm, attend to the social justice needs of community, and engage community participation in a new way, and in doing so become more openly political. We use qualitative interviews, focus groups, organizational documents, and participant observation to present a comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations’ managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first-order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions. Four participatory tensions or dialectics are discussed: passive versus active participation, partners versus clients, surplus powerlessness versus collective efficacy, and reflection/learning versus action/doing.
TL;DR: In this article, a mixed methods examination of teachers' job beliefs in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada is presented, which highlights the influence of cultural and community factors on teachers' working lives.
TL;DR: Neighborhood alcohol outlet density was strongly associated with reduced indicators of social capital, and the relationship between collective efficacy and outlet density appears to be mediated by perceived neighborhood safety.
TL;DR: This article investigated the effect of team-referent attributions on emotions and collective efficacy and found that following team victory attributions of team control were associated with higher levels of postcompetition happiness.
Abstract: This study investigated the effect of team-referent attributions on emotions and collective efficacy. A sample of 265 athletes, from 31 interdependent sport teams, completed measures of competition importance, the Sport Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ; Jones, Lane, Bray, Uphill, & Catlin, 2005), and a collective efficacy measure (CEM) immediately prior to competition. Immediately after competition, participants completed self-report measures of performance, the Causal Dimension Scale for Teams
(Greenlees, Lane, Thelwell, Holder, & Hobson, 2005), the SEQ, and the CEM. Findings indicated that following team victory attributions of team control were associated with higher levels of postcompetition happiness. Further, an interaction effect for team control and stability demonstrated that if team victory was perceived as stable over time, a team controllable attribution was associated with higher levels of postcompetition collective efficacy. For losing teams, an interaction effect for external control and stability indicated that only when team defeat was not perceived as under the control of others would an unstable attribution favor collective efficacy. This study
provides evidence that team-referent attributions contribute to emotions and collective efficacy beliefs in group achievement settings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conduct an empirical investigation of the social environment of "good" neighborhoods in physical form in a model of the "compact city," Portland, Oregon and discuss the implications for design and evaluation of policies inspired by smart growth and new urbanist movements that focus on the urban form and transportation dimensions of neighborhoods, and of housing assistance policies designed to change the economic mix in neighborhoods.
Abstract: We conduct an empirical investigation of the social environment of "good" neighborhoods in physical form in a model of the "compact city," Portland, Oregon and discuss the implications for design and evaluation of policies inspired by smart growth and new urbanist movements that focus on the urban form and transportation dimensions of neighborhoods, and of housing assistance policies designed to change the economic mix in neighborhoods. We conceptualize the physical and social dimensions of the "good" neighborhood environment and develop an approach to operationalization that uses publicly available data. Our findings indicate that for the most part, Portland has been successful in creating neighborhoods at several economic scales that feature not only the connectivity, accessibility, mixed land use, and access to public transit that characterize "good" neighborhoods from a physical perspective, but also a "good" social environment indicative of strong ties and collective efficacy. However, there are signs that in the process, Portland may be creating poverty areas that lack connectivity, accessibility, and access to public transit and a mix of destinations.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between collective efficacy, cohesion and team performance in Iran volleyball clubs and found that collective efficacy was correlated with team cohesion and collective efficacy in volleyball clubs.
Abstract: Resumen en: The purpose of this study was to examining the relationship between collective efficacy, cohesion and team performance in Iran volleyball clubs professio...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between collective efficacy and performance in a single competition of adventure racing and found a positive relationship between preparation effort and initial perceptions of collective efficacy.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between collective efficacy and performance in a single competition of adventure racing. Adventure racing is a team-based sport that requires the multidisciplinary tasks of trekking, mountain biking, canoeing, and climbing to navigate through a preplanned racecourse. Seventeen teams competing in an adventure race completed measures of prior performance, preparation effort, and a collective efficacy assessing perceptions of their team's functioning in six performance areas. Three in-race measures of collective efficacy and environmental factors-conditions are taken at various checkpoints. A correlational analysis indicates a positive relationship between preparation effort and initial perceptions of collective efficacy. A repeated measures analysis reveals the dynamic nature of collective efficacy and the reciprocal relationship between efficacy and performance. The results are consistent with D. L. Feltz and C. D. Lirgg's (1998) examination of collegiate teams and A. B...
Abstract: This article describes the testing of a model that proposes that people's beliefs regarding the effectiveness of hazard preparedness interact with social context factors (community participation, collective efficacy, empowerment and trust) to influence levels of hazard preparedness. Using data obtained from people living in coastal communities in Alaska and Oregon that are susceptible to experiencing tsunami, structural equation modelling analyses confirmed the ability of the model to help account for differences in levels of tsunami preparedness. Analysis revealed that community members and civic agencies influence preparedness in ways that are independent of the information provided per se. The model suggests that, to encourage people to prepare, outreach strategies must (a) encourage community members to discuss tsunami hazard issues and to identify the resources and information they need to deal with the consequences a tsunami would pose for them and (b) ensure that the community-agency relationship is complementary and empowering.
TL;DR: This article argued that the concept of collective efficacy conflates social cohesion and informal control and that police satisfaction contains two distinct dimensions-formal control (maintaining order and preventing crime) and police-citizen relations (how well the police respond to problems that are important to people in the neighbourhood, victims in the neighborhood, and local issu...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between team-referent attributions, team performance, and collective efficacy beliefs in recreational sport teams and found that both objective and subjective measures of performance positively predicted collective efficacy at the team level.
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between team-referent attributions, team performance, and collective efficacy beliefs in recreational sport teams A total of 248 recreational volleyball players from 45 different coed teams participated in the study Participants completed a subjective performance measure and the Causal Dimension Scale for Teams directly following a match and then completed the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports prior to their subsequent game Using hierarchical linear modeling, it was found that both objective and subjective measures of performance positively predicted collective efficacy at the team level In addition, stability negatively predicted collective efficacy beliefs; however, this relationship was moderated by objective performance
TL;DR: The role of community (dis)organizational processes is a major issue in contemporary criminology as discussed by the authors, and researchers have been increasingly eager to measure community-level social mechanization.
Abstract: The role of community (dis)organizational processes is a major issue in contemporary criminology. As a consequence, researchers have been increasingly eager to measure community-level social mechan...
TL;DR: The results point to the emergence of collective motivation beliefs in early adolescence, consistent with theories of social and cognitive development.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors test the hypothesis that perceived collective efficacy would mediate the effects of self-efficacy on individual task performance and find that for individuals working on an assigned group goal, perception of the group's collective efficacy has a direct influence on task performance.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that perceived collective efficacy would mediate the effects of self‐efficacy on individual task performance.Design/methodology/approach – An assessment center design with 147 participants in 49 three‐person groups was used.Findings – It is found that for individuals working on an assigned group goal, perception of the group's collective efficacy, rather than self‐efficacy, has a direct influence on task performance.Research limitations/implications – Future researchers should examine the extent to which cognitive intelligence influences collective efficacy effects.Practical implications – The research suggests that perceptions of collective efficacy and team support may influence early career developmental task performance.Originality/value – This paper found that collective efficacy might be more important than individual efficacy in predicting individual task performance in some circumstances.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of an imagery inter-vention on perceptions of collective efficacy in elite wheelchair basketball were examined. And the results provide partial support for the use of MG-M-type imagery interventions to enhance both individual and team perceptions in elite WBC teams.
Abstract: A multiple baseline across groups design was used to examine the effects of an imagery inter-vention on perceptions of collective efficacy. Members (n = 10) from an international wheelchairbasketball team were separated into three regional intervention groups. Each group completeda 4 week, video-aided, motivational general–mastery (MG-M) type imagery program with teamcontent. Collective efficacy was measured via the Collective Efficacy Inventory (Callow, Hardy,Markland, & Shearer, 2004). Collective efficacy increased for the South group and became moreconsistent for the Midlands group. No changes were reported for the North group. Social vali-dation measures indicated potential mechanisms via imagery effects on individual perceptions ofself-efficacy and then collective efficacy. The results provide partial support for the use of MG-Mtype imagery interventions to enhance both individual and team perceptions of collective efficacyin elite wheelchair basketball.KEYWORDS: athletes with disability, team confidence, mental rehearsal