An Exploration of Coercive Power and Trust in Community Involvement

Abstract

Collaborations are increasingly looked to for the resolution of social problems, in the establishment of market dominance on local and global levels, and within organizations as a method for increasing efficacy. Generally power and trust have been seen as critical elements to successful collaborations. However, in community contexts collaborations must often be preceded by community involvement. Using, correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions and a MANCOVA this article examines the relationship between coercive power, trust, and community involvement at multiple levels of analysis. Coercive power and trust were significantly and negatively correlated with each other. The trust variables were positively and significantly correlated with each other. They were trust in neighbors at the individual level, aggregate trust in neighbors at the community level, and trust in community organizations in which respondents were most involved. Trust in neighbors at the individual level and trust in community organizations were found to have a significant influence on community involvement. Trust in neighbors at the community level did not have a significant influence on community involvement. Respondents’ beliefs about how coercive power worked in their community did not have a significant influence on community involvement.