Using Sense of Community to Inform the Development and Dissemination of Outreach and Extension Programming
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v67i3.3207Keywords:
Sense of Community, Extension, Audience Segmentation, Demographic analysisAbstract
Sense of community is a foundational construct for building effective outreach and extension programs, yet few studies examine how sense of community differs across demographic groups that guide audience segmentation. This quantitative study surveyed 3,347 residents of Georgia using the 12-item Brief Sense of Community Scale (composed of four factors: needs fulfillment, group membership, influence, and emotional connection) and six demographic indicators (gender, age, education, employment status, employment level, and metro-urban-rural location). Internal consistency for the overall sense of community index was high (α = .93). One-way ANOVAs showed no gender differences, but significant differences emerged for age, education, employment status, employment level, and metro-urban-rural. Effect sizes were small (ηp2 ≤ .009), indicating nuanced importance of demographic groups. Within the sense of community construct, the needs fulfillment factor had the highest observed mean scores, whereas the influence factor had the lowest observed scores. Results indicate demographic factors such as age, education, and employment status are important for tailoring extension and outreach efforts. Gender differences appear less relevant for sense of community programming.
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