Cultivar filiação em organizações da sociedade civil para colher engajamento político: efeito da retenção de membros sobre participação política

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) have been recognized for their potential to create individual capacity for political participation, therefore, it is argued that CSOs “members” are more likely to participate in different political practices than “non-members”. The research argument is that the propensity of “members” to participate in political practices is explained by “members” retention. In this perspective, the main purpose of this research is to understand the influence of retention of CSOs “members” on political participation. Pursuing this objective demanded the need to develop a model to measure political participation, due to the limitations of the literature in providing a measure that encompasses several dimensions of the construct. The scale was tested in Mozambique, based on two different samples. Based on the data from the first sample (n=522), an exploratory factor analysis was performed. The suggested instrument was applied to the second sample (n=550), based on which confirmatory factor analysis and other analysis were performed. The validated measurement model is made up of the following factors: campaign activity, contacting, civic engagement, political protest and voting. Five research hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling, three of which were confirmed. The results indicated that “members” retention significantly influences contacting, civic engagement and voting, which is consistent with the research argument. Through the Mann-Whitney test, the thesis that CSOs “members” are more likely to participate in contacting, civic engagement, political protest and voting was confirmed, when compared to “non-members”.