Sense of community in community organizations: Structure and evidence of validity

A framework for measuring psychological sense of community for community or ganizations was presented, and an instrument to measure community organizat ion sense of community was developed. The framework consisted of four compo nents: Relationship to the Organization, Organization as Mediator, Influenc e of the Community Organization, and Bond to the Community. Two studies exa mined the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of the instrument. Stud y 1 (n = 218) was conducted with participants from three community organiza tions, and it identified four factors, matching the framework, with alpha c oefficients from .61 to .85. Study 2 (n = 1,676) was conducted with partici pants from five community organizations. Study 2 participants were 48% Afri can American, 42% White, 6% Latino/Hispanic, and 3% Other. Also for the Stu dy 2 sample, 69% were female; 31% were male. Study 2 confirmed three factor s for the Community Organization Sense of Community scale (COSOC): Relation ship to the Organization, Organization as Mediator, Bond to the Community; alpha coefficients ranged from .82 to .87. In three subsamples of Study 2, convergent validity of the instrument was explored by correlating total COS OC scores nad subscales scores with tow other measures of sense of communit y, political participation, community involvement, community organization i nvolvement, and perceived safety. The patterns of correlation among the var iables indicated, with one exception: strong support for validity of the in strument. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for development o f sense of community in community organizations, and community participatio n. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.