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“Changing the Text”: Modeling Council Capacity to Produce Institutionalized Change

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Collaboration is a ubiquitous approach to change, but is notoriously difficult and not definitively linked to desirable outcomes. Not surprisingly, the collaboration literature is replete with numerous facilitators and barriers to collaborative efforts. The current study aimed to develop a parsimonious model of factors influencing the success of collaborative efforts both internal and external to the council, including, (a) features of the council environment, (b) intermediate outcomes including the empowerment of members in the council context and the degree to which councils have generated social capital and (c) the extent to which collaborative efforts are occurring in a community context supportive of their aims. In particular, this study examines whether these factors affect the extent to which councils are positioned to achieve institutionalized change, or changes “in the text” that govern front line providers’ (e.g., police, advocates) practices in the community response to intimate partner violence. Results suggest that perceived member empowerment, generation of social capital, and supportive community context are the most important predictors of the extent to which councils foster shifts in institutionalized change. Features of the council environment are only indirectly related to the degree to which institutionalized change is ultimately fostered as mediated by the generation of social capital. This suggests that the ability of members to act as change agents and the extent to which those in power support council efforts figure more prominently to facilitate or constrain council efforts than council functioning itself.

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Notes

  1. Council structure and breadth are level II predictors only.

  2. Though leadership at level 1, and council climate at level II are significant, their effect is in the opposite direction as that expected (likely reflecting a restricted range).

  3. We also explored the extent to which member empowerment functioned as a mediator of the relationship between council features and institutionalized change. Results did not provide support for member empowerment as a mediator.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Vernie Beorkrem, Heather Dorsey, Sally Foster, and council coordinators and members for helping make this study possible. This project was supported by funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Grant Award #: 2005-WG-BX-0005. The content of this article reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Nicole E. Allen, Shabnam Javdani & Angela L. Walden

  2. Traumatic Stress Studies Division, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA

    Amy L. Lehrner

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  1. Nicole E. Allen
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  2. Shabnam Javdani
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  3. Amy L. Lehrner
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Correspondence to Nicole E. Allen.

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Allen, N.E., Javdani, S., Lehrner, A.L. et al. “Changing the Text”: Modeling Council Capacity to Produce Institutionalized Change. Am J Community Psychol 49, 317–331 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9460-z

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