Citizens' Relationships with a Municipality and Their Communicative Behaviors in Negative Civic Issues

Abstract

A Web survey involving 293 citizens in Siena, Italy, revealed how perceived relationship quality with a municipality and prior experiences of residence can create strategic value for local governments. In particular, the quality of relations with citizens makes these holders of good relationships view civic problems as less problematic, although the problems impact residents' interests. Implications for public relations research and practices are discussed, as well as the specific role played by digital and social media in citizens' active communication behaviors related to negative civic issues.

Notes

¹As is well known, the concept of “social capital” (defined here as the sum of the value produced by an single or collective actor's own relationships) became popular in the international scientific debate during the eighties, developed in particular in the context of social sciences by important authors such as Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman, and Robert Putnam. The second half of the 1990s has seen the extension of the concept to several disciplinary fields and, in particular, the rise of a systematic relational paradigm adopted in the analysis of complex organizations.

²Other methods of conducting the survey (also on the basis of a random sampling) are not free from distortions and, at the same time, ask relevant investments. In particular, personal or computer-assisted telephone interviews could have been used.

³Two questions were used to measure problem recognition of each of three issues: “How much does the current situation differ from your expectation about this problem?” and “How strongly do you feel that something needs to be done to improve the situation of this problem?” For information forwarding, two measures were again used: “I love to start a conversation on this problem with others,” and “It is one of my top priorities to share my knowledge and perspective about this problem.”