Relationship of social capital, community identity, and perceived safety resilience during public emergencies in Shanghai

Community resilience is important to public safety in the face of unexpected disruptions caused by public emergencies. In addressing how to improve the ability of community systems to absorb, adapt, learn, and recover when confronted with the perturbations of public emergencies, this study examines the relationships among three types of social capital (SC), community identity (CI), and community resilience from the perspective of social psychology. The study introduces the notion of perceived community safety resilience (PCSR) based on the concepts of perceived resilience and safety resilience, and then conducts theoretical modeling of the relationships among PCSR, CI, and SC. Using public health emergencies in Shanghai from March to June 2022 as an example, our hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling with survey data from 349 Shanghai residents. The results show that Bonding SC, Bridging SC, and Linking SC are correlated with each other. Bonding SC and Linking SC have significant positive effects on CI and PCSR, while the effect of Bridging SC on CI and the effect of Bridging SC on PCSR are not significant. CI has varying degrees of partial mediation effects between the three types of SC and PCSR. Under China's emergency management model, Linking SC plays the most critical role in enhancing CI and PSCR. However, the hypothesized relationships between Bridging SC and PCSR, as well as between Bridging SC and CI, are not significant. To improve the community's ability to respond to emergencies, more attention should be paid to the cultivation of Bridging SC. The results contribute to understanding the current relationships among SC, CI, and PCSR. This study provides a reference for policymakers and community residents to enhance community resilience in the face of public emergencies through the cultivation of SC and CI.