Interrelations between sense of place, organizational commitment, and green neighborhoods
Abstract
Does the notion of organizational commitment apply to neighborhoods? Typically, sense of place is examined in relation to belonging and identification in communities, whereas organizational commitment is traditionally investigated in work settings. Based on apparent commonalities between the two constructs, we hypothesized that (a) neighborhood residents would experience them similarly, (b) the two constructs would be similarly associated with a physical variable (‘greenness’) and (c) individuals living in neighborhoods with more sustainable attributes would experience greater neighborhood (organizational) commitment, and a stronger sense of place. Neighborhood commitment and sense of place were significantly correlated, with moderate shared variance. Neighborhood commitment was significantly associated with the number of ‘green’ neighborhood attributes. Thus, neighborhood commitment and sense of place appear to be similar but not identical constructs, suggesting that neighborhood commitment has distinct value as an environmental construct in community research.
