Dynamics of employment-related community trust – gender and experience in UK Coalfield Communities

1. Dynamics of employment-related community trust – gender and experience in UK Coalfield Communities Gráinne Collins Employment Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin Michael Grimsley Sheffield Hallam University Anthony Meehan (presenting author) The Open University EGOS 06

2. 4 Capitals: Fixed, Environmental, Human, Social Trust Community context and demographics Motivation Community regeneration, well-being & sustainability • understand dynamics (esp. of empowerment & engagement) • evaluate policy and identify levers for sustainability and regeneration Socio-economic boundary of Employment Gender effects EGOS 06

3. South Yorkshire Social Capital Survey • Wave 1 (2000) (Green, Grimsley, Suokas, 2000) 4220 households, 2984 working age • Wave 2 (2004) (Gilbertson, Green, Grimsley, Manning, 2005) 3771 households, 2431 working age • Common sub-sample 1071, working age 586 Data Sources EGOS 06

4. Table 1. Economic (Employment) Status: Working age Study Area and UK Profile • 3-4 percentage point increase in full-time employment • rising unemployment (against UK trend) • falling economic inactivity – but still about twice UK norm * UK 2003 figures combine F/T and P/T Source: Gilbertson et al (2005) p 35; NOMIS: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/ EGOS 06

5. political, economic & social institutions vertical trust Braithwaite & Levy, 1998; Grimsley, Meehan et al, 2003 horizontal trust community – family, friends, neighbours Arenas of Community Trust • Trust in employers? • Gender differences? EGOS 06

6. Table 2. Components of Community Trust 2000-2004: vertical (1) and horizontal (2) trust dimensions in the two waves (working age only) Arenas of Community Trust • Persistent evidence of distinct vertical and horizontal arenas • Order of magnitude (x10) increase in contribution of Employer Trust to Horizontal Trust EGOS 06

7. Trust 2000-2004 (tables 3 and 4) • Horizontal Trust (HT) (relatively high scores persist - family & friends effect) • small decline (2 or 3%); fall more pronounced for employed, and for men. Gender difference in HT has become statistically significant and seems independent of employment status. • Vertical Trust (VT) (mid-range scores) • static for workless; moderate increases for employed (5%); more pronounced increase (4%) for men. Gender difference reduced to marginal significance. • Employer Trust (ET) (mid-range scores) • static for workless; moderate increases for employed (7%); more pronounced increase (5%) for men. Gender difference reduced to marginal significance. EGOS 06

8. the extent to which people feel able to influence influence: the extent to which people feel a sense of personal control in their life personal control: how well informed people feel information: Drivers of Trust • Particularly strong drivers in relation to vertical trust EGOS 06

9. Efficacy (contingency) Influence Personal control Empowerment Informed participation Informed choice of action Well-informedness Elements of Empowerment EGOS 06

10. Trust and Empowerment 2000-2004 (table 5) • Empowerment Score (ES) (mid-range scores) • marginal increase for workless; moderate increases for employed (4.5%); more pronounced increase (4%) for women. Gender difference has become statistically significant. • Empowerment is positively related to all forms of trust • people with relatively low empowerment are much more likely to express relatively low levels of trust. • Empowerment, Employment and Exclusion • by 2004, the reduced proportion of people expressing relatively moderate or low levels of empowerment were much more likely to express relatively low levels of trust, especially Employer Trust, and this was particularly so for workless people. EGOS 06

11. Trust and Empowerment Factors 2000-2004 (tables 6 and 7) • Workless people exhibit persistently more negative responses on all empowerment factors, especially in relation to Employer Trust. • Amongst workless, sense of community influence exhibited large relative decline. • For women and men, well-informedness is important driver for Employer Trust; and magnified effect for those in work. • For women, sense of personal control in life appears as persistent, possibly dominant driver for trust, especially Employer Trust. EGOS 06

12. Longitudinal Sub-sample 2000-2004 (figures 2-4) • Note small numbers in some categories. EGOS 06

13. 10.5 4.0 10.0 3.8 9.5 3.6 9.0 3.4 8.5 w1 Trust 3.2 8.0 employers w1 Vert trust 3.0 7.5 w2 Trust 95% CI 95% CI 7.0 w2 Vert trust 2.8 employers N = 54 54 229 229 226 226 77 77 N = 54 54 229 229 226 226 77 77 Employed to workless Employed to workless Employed Employed Workless Workless to employed Workless Workless to employed Employment Experience Employer Trust and Vertical Trust • Powerful effect of gaining employment • Non-significant effect of negative/unchanging experience EGOS 06

14. 15.0 14.8 14.6 14.4 14.2 14.0 13.8 w1 Hor trust 13.6 95% CI 13.4 w2 Hor trust N = 54 54 229 229 226 226 77 77 Employed Workless to employed Employed to workless Workless Employment Experience andHorizontal Trust • Difficult to discern an employment experience effect on Horizontal Trust EGOS 06

15. Gender and Experience • For women, there is a statistically significant positive linear trend in Employer Trust levels for and increasingly positive employment experience (see also table 8). EGOS 06

16. Women, Employment and Empowerment • For women, change in Employer Trust is driven by change in sense of personal control in life and positive employment experience (tables 8 and 9). EGOS 06

17. ‘Spill-over’ of Employer Trust? • Evidence of positive relation between Employer Trust and expressed trust in other relations, both vertical and horizontal (top of table 12). EGOS 06

18. Summary Points • Caveats: distinctiveness of area; women express higher trust than men. • Trust in Vertical and Horizontal arenas correlated; ‘overlapping contribution’ of individual trust relations, e.g. and noticeably, employers. • Changed rather than enduring experience has most perceptible effects. • Trust explained in part by Empowerment. • Impact of employment change, esp. loss of employment, in Employer and Vertical trust more significant for women. Explained by importance to women of personal control in life. • Some ‘spill-over’ of Employer Trust to other trust relations. EGOS 06

19. Discussion Points • Relative responsiveness of workless/employed and women/men suggestive of hysteresis effect in trust dynamics. • Changing contribution of Employer Trust to Horizontal Trust may be explained by: • convergence of HT for workless and employed; • role of workplace in production of trust. • Empowerment and basis constructs point to means to ‘manage’ trust promotion. EGOS 06

20. Main ‘Findings’ • Changing community trust levels are related to experiences of gaining losing work and the consequent effect on sense of empowerment. • These effects are gendered and differences appear rooted in relative importance of personal control in life and well-informedness for women and men, respectively. • Suggestive evidence of dynamic (positive) ‘spillover’: employment change  employer trust change  community trust change. A Research Question • How does the organisation of work (and its relation to the way women and men experience community living) contribute to community-level trust production? EGOS 06

21. Some Reserve Slides: EGOS 06

22. -ve experience Trust +ve experience • If trust is low and experience is negative, little changes. • If trust is high and experience is positive, little changes. • If experience is positive, trusts grows (rapidly at first). • If experience is negative trust collapses and there is no easy shortcut to recovery. Hysteresis in brief: EGOS 06

23. well-informedness horizontal trust vertical trust EGOS 06

24. personal control horizontal trust vertical trust EGOS 06

25. influence horizontal trust vertical trust EGOS 06