Neighbourhood Participation as a Proxy to Civic Engagement

Civic engagement refers to community involvement with the aim of community empowerment through collective actions. A community active in civic engagement tends to foster social capital that can be generalized into society as a whole. This study investigates the encouragement of civic engagement via neighbourhood factors. A total of 400 Malaysians, aged between 18 to 65 years, residing in Klang Valley, have been chosen to participate in the research using quota sampling. The results show that the neighbourhood, perceived as safe and high in neighbourhood social capital and active in organizing neighbourhood activities, are associated with higher civic engagement. It suggests the significance of promoting individual involvement in neighbourhood in order to enhance the process of successful citizenship training at the national level. Thus, local authority should look into the organization for more meaningful and regular neighbourhood activities.