Three researchers at Erasmus University Rotterdam studied the relationships between leadership, social capital, organizational capacity, and government support. Based on 671 surveys completed by representatives of Dutch community initiatives, they uncovered how these four factors relate to the performance of citizen collectives.
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Results
Two leadership styles play a crucial role:
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Transformational leadership is essential for mobilizing the intrinsic motivation of volunteers and for building organizational capacity and social capital.
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Boundary-spanning leadership improves performance by connecting initiatives with external partners, such as government agencies, and strengthening organizational capacity by creating bridges to other communities.
Two forms of social capital are also important:
Government support positively influences the performance of collectives, but the impact of strong leadership appears to be greater. The form and extent of government support can be especially critical during certain phases of a citizen collective.
The research shows that citizen collectives in which both intra- and interorganizational leadership styles are well developed also experience stronger organizational capacity and more government support, which in turn improves the performance of the collective.
Reference
Igalla, M., Edelenbos, J., & van Meerkerk, I. (2019). What explains the performance of community-based initiatives?. Public Management Review: an international journal of research and theory. doi:10.1080/14719037.2019.1604796