Social Capital and Public Service Performance: A Review of the Evidence

Abstract

The social capital present within local communities is increasingly viewed as an important source of co-productive capacity for delivering better public services. However, to date, research in the field of public administration has paid scant attention to the links between structural and attitudinal components of social capital, such as community organizational life, political engagement and levels of interpersonal trust, and the performance of public services. In this article, the relationship between social capital and public service performance is explored by reviewing the available empirical evidence on this topic. The existing evidence suggests that the strength and direction of the social capital performance relationship may vary by the different dimensions of social capital. Thus, further research in this area would have theoretical and practical benefits.