Neighbouring behaviour, ethnic relations and informal control: a multigroup analysis

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of community organisation as part of the systemic model. Based on the systemic model of community crime, it is perceived that community networks are negatively correlated with victimisation. The authors consider an alternative interpretation, suggesting that these conceptual relationships can run opposite to the directions shown in the systemic model. The crime rate itself may change residents’ perception of neighbouring behaviour and informal control.

Design/methodology/approach

This hypothesis is tested using a multigroup analysis of the community organisation across a sample of victims and non-victims in a Malaysian neighbourhood.

Findings

The authors find that property crime affects ethnic relations among the residents, where the non-victims perceived higher levels of ethnic relationships compared with the victims. The results show that configural and metric invariance are fully supported, while scalar and structural invariance were partially supported, suggesting that the items measured may be robust across cultures and that the factor loadings appeared to be equivalent across victims and non-victims. Non-victims perceived significantly higher informal control and closer ethnic relations than victims.

Originality/value

The paper provides a new direction of the systemic model, whereby victimisation could affect residents’ size of friendship networks and perception informal control.

Citation

Hedayati, M., Abdullah, A. and Maghsoodi Tilaki, M.J. (2015), "Neighbouring behaviour, ethnic relations and informal control: a multigroup analysis", Safer Communities, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 80-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-01-2015-0001