Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Organization-Level Predictors of Sustained Social Movement Participation

  • Original Article
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Long-term sustained participation represents one of the most important resources available to community organizations and social movement organizations (SMOs). The participatory literature on community and SMOs has identified a host of individual-level factors that influence participation beyond initial engagement, and has more recently identified contextual factors that influence participation. This study builds upon current understandings of participation in SMOs by examining how sustained participation in movement activities is affected by two qualities of SMO settings: repertoire of organizational activity, and equality of staff contact with organization members to cultivate and facilitate individual participation. To this end, we employ multi-level regression techniques to examine longitudinal data on participation within 50 local chapters of a national congregation-based community organizing federation. We find that the conduct of organizational activities previously shown to increase levels of participation among individual persons does not necessarily lead to increases in aggregate or organization-level participation. Further, we find that conditions of unequal staff contact among organization members represent a notable drag on organization-level participation over time. Our findings suggest that organizers and organizational leaders may well see greater levels of participation in their organizations by simply re-distributing resources and opportunities more equitably within their organizations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The concept of ‘repertoire’ as relates to the activities of movement organizations has largely been employed to explain various tactical/policy outcomes (Taylor and Van Dyke 2004); here we apply the concept of repertoire not to movement outcomes, but instead to explain differential participation at the organizational level.

  2. The PICO National Network is a U.S. based network of congregation-based community organizations comprised of approximately 1,000 congregations and community-based groups organizing around a range of social issues including school reform, healthcare reform, affordable housing, immigration, public safety, and urban redevelopment. PICO has affiliate federations in operation in 150 cities and 17 states across the U.S. See www.piconetwork.org/about or Wood et al. (2012) for more information.

  3. The incidence rate ratio is for a one-unit change in this independent variable is equal to the exponentiated beta coefficient, in this case exp (0.063) = 1.065, indicating a 6.5 % increase.

  4. Strictly speaking, this represents a 1.06 unit change in the value of the interaction term.

  5. The incidence rate ratio for the difference in expected participation between these two organizations is the exponentiated product of the parameter value (.104) and the number of units change (1.06): exp(1.06 × 0.104) = 1.1165. This represents an expected increase in participation of 11.65 % in organization B relative to organization A, holding all other factors including the mean number of one-to-one meetings.

References

  • Alker, H. (1969). A typology of ecological fallacies. In M. Dogan & S. Rokkan (Eds.), Quantitative ecological analysis (pp. 64–86). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkan, S. E., Cohn, S. F., & Whitaker, W. H. (1995). Beyond recruitment: Predictors of differential participation in a national anti-hunger organization. Sociological Forum, 10, 113–134. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02098566.

  • Bolker, B. M., Brooks, M. E., Clark, C. J., Geange, S. W., Poulsen, J. R., Stevens, M. H., & White, J. S. (2009). Generalized linear mixed models: A practical guide for ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24(3), 127–135. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.10.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L. D., Shephard, M. D., Merkle, E. C., Wituk, S. A., & Meissen, G. (2008). Understanding how participation in a consumer-run organization relates to recovery. American Journal of Community Psychology, 42(1/2), 167–178.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butts, C., Acton, R., & Marcum, C. S. (2011). Interorganizational collaboration in the hurricane Katrina response. Journal of Social Structure 13(1). Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume13/ButtsActonMarcum.pdf.

  • Campbell, R., Baker, C. K., & Mazurek, T. L. (1998). Remaining radical? Organizational predictors of rape crisis centers’ social change initiatives. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26(3), 457–483.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christens, B. D. (2010). Public relationship building in grassroots community organizing: Relational intervention for individual and systems change. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(7), 886–900. doi:10.1002/jcop.20403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christens, B. D., Collura, J. J., & Tahir, F. (2013). Critical hopefulness: A person-centered analysis of the intersection of cognitive and emotional empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52(1–2), 170–184. doi:10.1007/s10464-013-9586-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christens, B. D., & Speer, P. W. (2011). Contextual influences on participation in community organizing: A multilevel longitudinal study. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47(3–4), 253–263. doi:10.1007/s10464-010-9393-y.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, S., Barkan, S., & Halteman, W. (2003). Dimensions of participation in a social movement organization. Sociological Inquiry, 73, 311–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corrigall-Brown, C. (2012). Patterns of protest: Trajectories of participation in social movements. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corrigall-Brown, C., Snow, D. A., Smith, K., & Quist, T. (2009). Explaining the puzzle of homeless mobilization: An examination of differential participation. Sociological Perspectives, 52(3), 309–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diani, M. (2004). Networks and participation. In D. Snow, S. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 339–359). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diani, M., & Lodi, G. (1988). Three in one: Currents in the Milan ecology movement. In B. Klandermans, H. Kriesi, & S. Tarrow (Eds.), From structure to action (pp. 103–124). Greenwich, CT: JAI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, C., Jones, K., & Moon, G. (1998). Context, composition and heterogeneity: Using multilevel models in health research. Social Science and Medicine, 46(1), 97–117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, B., & McCarthy, J. (2004). Resources and social movement mobilization. In D. Snow, S. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 116–151). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez, R., & McAdam, D. (1988). Social networks and social movements: Multi-organizational fields and recruitment to Mississippi Freedom Summer. Sociological Forum, 3, 357–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster-Fishman, P. G., Collins, C., & Pierce, S. J. (2013). An investigation of the dynamic processes promoting citizen participation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(3–4), 492–509. doi:10.1007/s10464-012-9566-y.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foster-Fishman, P. G., Pierce, S. J., & Van Egeren, L. A. (2009). Who participates and why: Building a process model of citizen participation. Health Education & Behavior: The Official Publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 36(3), 550–569. doi:10.1177/1090198108317408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haug, C. (2013). Organizing spaces: meeting arenas as a social movement infrastructure between organization, network, and institution. Organization Studies, 34(5–6), 705–732. doi:10.1177/0170840613479232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houston, J. D., & Todd, N. R. (2013). Religious congregations and social justice participation: A multilevel examination of social processes and leadership. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52(3–4), 273–287. doi:10.1007/s10464-013-9593-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klandermans, B. (1993). A theoretical framework for comparisons of social movement participation. Sociological Forum, 8, 383–402. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01115051.

  • Klandermans, B. (2004). The demand and supply of participation: Social psychological correlates of participation in social movements. In D. Snow, S. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 360–379). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klandermans, B., & Oegema, D. (1987). Potentials, networks, motivations, and barriers: Steps towards participation in social movements. American Sociological Review, 52, 519–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knoke, D. (1988). Incentives in collective action organizations. American Sociological Review, 53, 311–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maton, K. I. (2008). Empowering community settings: Agents of individual development, community betterment, and positive social change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 4–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McAdam, D. (1986). Recruitment to high-risk activism: The case of freedom summer. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 64–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J., & Walker, W. (2004). Alternative organizational repertoires of poor people’s social movement organizations. Nonprofit and Volunteer Sector Quarterly, 33, 97S–119S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J., & Zald, M. (1977). Resource mobilization and social movements: A partial theory. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 1212–1241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mok, D., Wellman, B., & Basu, R. (2007). Did distance matter before the internet? Interpersonal contact and support in the 1970s. Social Networks, 29, 430–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mondros, J. B., & Wilson, S. M. (1994). Organizing for power and empowerment. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad, S. (2004). Persistent resistance: Commitment and community in the Plowshares movement. Social Problems, 51, 43–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oegema, D., & Klandermans, B. (1994). Why social movement sympathizers don’t participate: Erosion and non-conversion of support. American Sociological Review, 59, 703–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohmer, M. L. (2008). The relationship between members’ perceptions of their neighborhood organization and their involvement and perceived benefits from participation. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(7), 851–870.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, P., & Marwell, G. (1992). Mobilizing technologies for collective action. In A. Morris & C. Mueller (Eds.), Frontiers of social movement theory (pp. 251–272). New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orr, M. (2007). Community organizing and the changing ecology of civic engagement. In M. Orr (Ed.), Transforming the city: Community organizing and the challenge of political change (pp. 1–27). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osterman, P. (2002). Gathering power. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passy, F. (2003). Social networks matter. But how? In M. Diani & D. McAdam (Eds.), Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action (pp. 21–48). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Passy, F., & Giugni, M. (2001). Social networks and individual perceptions: Explaining differential participation in social movements. Sociological Forum, 16, 123–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkins, D., Florin, P., Rich, R., Wandersman, A., & Chavis, D. (1990). Participation and the social and physical environment of residential blocks: Crime and community context. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 83–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, N. A., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2004). Beyond the individual: Toward a nomological network of organizational empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34(1/2), 129–145.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pyles, L. (2014). Progressive community organizing: Reflective practice in a globalizing world. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Development Team. (2012). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing (Version 2.14.2) [Software]. Vienna, Austria. www.r-project.org.

  • Raudenbush, S., & Bryk, A. (1986). A hierarchical model for studying school effects. Sociology of Education, 59, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S., Yang, M. L., & Yosef, M. (2000). Maximum likelihood models via high order multivariate LaPlace approximation. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 9, 141–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, B., & Hanna, M. G. (1994). Lessons for academics from grassroots community organizing: A case study—the industrial areas foundation. Journal of Community Practice, 1(4), 63–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, D. (1985). Issues of level in organizational research: Multi-level and cross-level perspectives. Research in Organizational Behavior, 7, 1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarason, S. B. (1972). The creation of settings and the future societies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, C., Grasso, M., Olcese, C., Rainsford, E., & Rootes, C. (2012). Explaining differential protest participation: Novices, returners, repeaters, and stalwarts. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 17(3), 263–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, E. (1988). Back to the future, community psychology: Unfolding a theory of social intervention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 16(1), 4–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skaug, H., Fournier, D., Nielsen, A., Magnusson, A., & Bolker, B. (2011). glmmADMB: Generalized linear mixed models using AD model builder (R package version 0.7.2.12) [Software]. http://glmmadmb.r-forge.r-project.org.

  • Snijders, T., & Bosker, R. (2012). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling (2nd ed.). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Somma, N. M. (2010). How do voluntary organizations foster protest? The role of organizational involvement on individual protest participation. The Sociological Quarterly, 51(3), 384–407.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Speer, P., & Hughey, J. (1995). Community organizing: An ecological route to power and empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23(5), 729–748.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, V., & Van Dyke, N. (2004). ‘Get up, Stand up’: Tactical repertoires of social movements. In D. Snow, S. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 262–293). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesdahl, E. A. (2014). More than the sum: Cooperation and mutual commitment in congregation-based community organizing. Sociological Inquiry. doi:10.1111/soin.12063.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dyke, N., & Dixon, M. (2013). Activist human capital: Skills acquisition and the development of commitment to social movement activism. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 18(2), 197–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Venables, W., & Ripley, B. D. (2002). Modern applied statistics with S (4th ed.). London: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, M. (2001). Dry bones rattling: Community building to revitalize American democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, R. (2002). Faith in action: Religion, race, and democratic organizing in America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, R., Partridge, K., & Fulton, B. (2012). Building bridges, building power: Developments in institution-based community organizing.

  • Zheng, T., Salganik, M. J., & Gelman, A. (2006). How many people do you know in prison? Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(474), 409–423. doi:10.1198/016214505000001168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Box 90 GPC, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Eric A. Tesdahl & Paul W. Speer

Authors
  1. Eric A. Tesdahl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul W. Speer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric A. Tesdahl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tesdahl, E.A., Speer, P.W. Organization-Level Predictors of Sustained Social Movement Participation. Am J Community Psychol 55, 48–57 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9692-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9692-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation