Cross-cultural differences in social capital and community resilience perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract Through online surveys, this study examined both cross-national (U.S. vs. China) and intra-national (i.e., community size) cultural differences in social capital and community resilience perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across both U.S. and China, offline bonding social capital was found to be a crucial prerequisite for community resilience perceptions. Besides offline bonding, Chinese participants relied more on social media bridging social capital while U.S. participants relied more on social media bonding relationships to develop community resilience perceptions. Though the U.S. sample exhibited higher social capital, Chinese sample reported higher community resilience perceptions. Within each country, individual differences and community sizes made a difference in cultivating social capital and community resilience perceptions.