Effects of relational capital on relationship between place attachment and resident participation

Place attachment and public participation are increasingly important to sustainable community development and environmental protection, and influence the degree to which residents value community development. Unfortunately, social segregation has broken value consensus in many modern communities, particularly Chinese communities, which traditionally emphasize interpersonal interactions. This has created discrepancies between theory and reality in community development, making it necessary to clarify the influence of relational capital (e.g., trust, identification, and norm of reciprocity) on the relationship between place attachment and resident participation. This study adopted convenience sampling to conduct a case study in Eastern Taiwan. A total of 310 valid samples were collected. The relationships between constructs are determined by a linear structural equation model. Our results show that place attachment and resident participation are positively correlated and that reciprocal norms are important mediators of the influence of place attachment on resident participation. From a practical perspective, this confirms the rationality of community policy and highlights areas for improvement to support ongoing community development.