The Effects of Mobility Expectation on Community Attachment: A Multilevel Model Approach

Abstract

According to the systemic model of community attachment, high residential stability serves as a precondition on which residents build formal and informal social ties within their communities, ultimately resulting in increased community attachment. However, previous studies have only measured residents’ length of residence in the community to measure residential stability, not considering whether expectations of staying in the community in the future affect residents’ community attachment. This study aims to test if mobility expectation influences residents’ community attachment by employing the logistic multilevel model to analyze 31,159 householders from 31 municipalities in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The results show that residents’ mobility expectation, in addition to the length of residence, is a significant determinant of community attachment after controlling for individual and regional-level covariates. The results provide implications for urban and regional policies aiming to promote community attachment and participation among residents in the age of increasing residential mobility.