Impact of Social Capital on Political Participation An Empirical Study of Balochistan-Province of Pakistan
Keywords:
Strong democracy; social capital; political trust; political participation; BalochistanAbstract
In the present epoch, political participation becomes one of an extensive
and wide research interests as well the vital component for citizens due to
a huge responsibility for building a strong democracy. The purpose of
present study is to examine the role of two main factors of social capital
i.e. political trust and social trust. For that, on the basis of literature
support, a conceptual framework, conceptual model and hypotheses are
developed for investigation. A deductive /quantitative approach is applied
for achieving the suitable results of the proposed hypotheses. This is a
cross-sectional (one shot) study in which data is collected through a
survey questionnaire from the people who are casting their votes and
participating in politics of Balochistan. A convenience sampling technique
is applied for the data collection. Total 800 questionnaires are distributed
by personally visits. Out of 800, total 460 samples are returned back. The
response rate is noted as 57.5%. After cleaning and screening of data, 414
valid samples are applied for further analysis. Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) version 24.0 for windows is applied for data
analysis, the overall; Cronbach’s alpha (α) reliability of survey
questionnaire is 0.783. Whereas, alpha for all variables (dependent and
independent) being noted within their acceptable ranges. The overall, the
findings of a study is suggested that there is a non-significant impact of
political trust on political participation. On the other hand, social trust
has a positive and significant impact on political participation in
Balochistan-Pakistan. This study may provide a guideline for the political
parties and government agents of Balochistan so as to develop the social
and political trust towards political participation of a common people.
Furthermore, this study may contribute in the literature of politics, and
sociology of developing countries like Pakistan and specifically for
Balochistan settings
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