Empowerment praxis in community coalitions
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
10-1-1995
Abstract
Community coalitions address a wide variety of community problems, espousing a community development processes that promotes individual and collective self-determination. They offer a promising venue for the study of empowerment of individuals and organizations. This study utilizes data from members of 35 community coalitions organized for the prevention of alcohol and other drug problems to address the following questions: What individual characteristics are related to the psychological empowerment of coalition members? What organizational characteristics are related to the collective empowering of members? What organization characteristics are related to a coalition being organizationally empowered to succeed in achieving its objectives? At the individual level, psychological empowerment was most strongly related to individuals' participation levels, sense of community, and perceptions of a positive organizational climate. At the group level, the strongest predictors of collective empowering (our operationalization of the empowering organization) were net benefits of participation, commitment, and positive organization climate. Psychological empowerment and positive organizational climate were the two predictors of organizational effectiveness (the empowered organization). Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. © 1995 Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
American Journal of Community Psychology
Volume
23
Issue
5
Citation/Publisher Attribution
McMillan, Brad, Paul Florin, John Stevenson, Ben Kerman, and Roger E. Mitchell. "Empowerment praxis in community coalitions." American Journal of Community Psychology 23, 5 (1995): 699-727. doi: 10.1007/BF02506988.