Unravelling the paradox of community participation: If the process is so good why don’t people participate?

Abstract

Community participation is recognised as a basic human right and an important human need. Benefits of the process of community participation for individuals and the community are well documented and structures are established at the community, and organisational level, to facilitate the participatory process. Despite the potential benefits of participation the reality is that relatively few people choose to participate when given the opportunity. In order to facilitate effective community action it is necessary to know which individuals will participate, under what circumstances and the level of participation involved. A review of studies in the participation literature reveals that the identification of a number of social-psychological factors and cost/benefit variables associated with participation has contributed significantly to systematising an understanding of participation in voluntary organisations. Research suggests that by increasing the benefits and reducing costs in effective management systems it may be possible to increase participation. However, longitudinal studies are needed to clearly define which characteristics predict participation and which characteristics are consequences of participation. Although caution must be taken in generalising the findings of the studies conducted in the United States, given the complete absence of Australian data, the studies provide important direction for Australian research.