Revised Community Organization Sense of Community Scale (COSCS-R)

Abstract

The Revised Community Organization Sense of Community Scale (COSCS-R) is a brief, validated psychological scale developed to measure the degree to which individuals experience Sense of Community (SOC) specifically within the context of their involvement with a particular community organization. Building upon the foundational theory of McMillan and Chavis (1986), the COSCS-R is an eight-item instrument designed to confirm the structural relationship between organizational participation and broader community attachment. It operationalizes SOC across four key dimensions: Relationship to Organization (RO), Organization as Mediator (OM), Influence of Organization (IO), and Bond to Community (BC), making it highly valuable for evaluating the efficacy of community-based interventions and empowerment initiatives.

Keywords

Sense of Community, COSCS-R, Community organization, Psychological measurement, Social cohesion, Organizational efficacy, Community participation, Factor structure.

Authors

Peterson, N.A., Speer, P.W., Hughey, J., McMillan, D.W., Chavis, D.M.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the COSCS-R is to provide a concise and psychometrically sound measure of Sense of Community that explicitly recognizes and accounts for the mediating role of formal organizations in fostering community bonds. Earlier measures of SOC often focused solely on geographic neighborhoods, whereas the COSCS-R is tailored to assess how organizational structures, activities, and perceived effectiveness influence an individual’s sense of belonging, influence, and connection to the larger geographic community.

This instrument is essential for researchers evaluating community development programs, assessing organizational health, and testing theoretical propositions regarding the mechanisms through which membership in community groups contributes to social capital, collective efficacy, and civic engagement. Its brevity and focused factor structure make it an efficient tool for practical application.

Construct

The COSCS-R measures the psychological construct of Sense of Community (SOC), which is generally understood as the feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together. The COSCS-R operationalizes this construct through four distinct, empirically supported dimensions:

• Relationship to Organization (RO): Reflects the individual’s direct sense of influence and personal responsiveness within the organization (e.g., having a say).

• Organization as Mediator (OM): Measures how the organization serves as a bridge, facilitating connections between the individual and important people or other groups in the city.

• Influence of Organization (IO): Captures the organization’s perceived efficacy, reputation, and respect within the broader community context.

• Bond to Community (BC): Assesses the affective attachment and overall satisfaction the individual feels toward the geographic community or town itself.

Validity

The validity of the COSCS-R is rooted in its continuous refinement based on the theoretical work of McMillan and Chavis (1986). Construct validity has been established through studies demonstrating that the four-factor model accurately reflects the underlying structure of SOC in organizational settings. Research by Hughey, Speer, & Peterson (1999) and subsequent validation studies by Peterson et al. (2008) provided critical evidence supporting the scale’s ability to differentiate between organizational dynamics (RO, OM, IO) and general place attachment (BC).

The scale’s development was guided by the principle that organizational context is crucial for understanding SOC, and empirical tests confirm that the items load consistently onto the intended dimensions, establishing strong evidence of convergent and discriminant validity relative to the original SOC theory.

Reliability

The COSCS-R exhibits strong reliability, particularly in terms of internal consistency across its subscales. While specific reliability coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) vary slightly across different samples of organization members, they consistently meet or exceed acceptable standards for psychological scale use. The decision to limit the scale to eight items in the revised version was made to maximize practicality and efficiency for use in real-world community settings, without sacrificing the reliability of the core measurements. High internal consistency ensures that the items within each factor are consistently measuring the same underlying dimension of organizational or community connection.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the COSCS-R was confirmed through rigorous factor analysis, which supported the hypothesized four-factor solution. This analysis demonstrated that the observed variance in responses could be effectively explained by four distinct latent constructs, corresponding exactly to the theoretical dimensions proposed by the authors (Peterson et al., 2008).

The four-factor structure (RO, OM, IO, BC) is a significant outcome of the factor analysis, distinguishing the COSCS-R from unitary or three-factor SOC models. This structure provides a nuanced understanding of how organizational influence operates—separating internal feelings of influence (RO) from external perceptions of organizational power (IO) and mediating capabilities (OM), while retaining a measure of general community bond (BC).

Instrument

Test Type: Psychological scale; Self-report inventory

Format: Eight items utilizing a 6-point Likert scale response format, ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree.

Language Available: English (Primary)

Population Group: Individuals involved in or affiliated with a specific community organization or agency.

Age Group: Adults (typically 18+)

Population Details: Applicable to members, clients, staff, or volunteers within various community-based groups, non-profits, or civic associations where the role of the organization in fostering community ties is central.

Test Methodology: Standardized self-administration; scoring involves calculating means for the four subscales, allowing for detailed analysis of the different components of organizational and community attachment.

Keywords

Sense of Belonging, Social Support, Organizational influence, Community psychology, Psychometric properties, Empowerment, Assessment instrument, COSCS-R.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The COSCS-R was formally published in its revised form in 2008 (Peterson, Speer, & McMillan, Peterson et al.). Usage permissions typically adhere to academic standards, requiring citation of the original source materials. The instrument is widely referenced in community psychology literature and appears in edited volumes dedicated to assessment tools.

The original PDF of related research utilizing this instrument can be downloaded here: http://academicarchive.snhu.edu/bitstream/handle/10474/2290/sced2012fernando.pdf?sequence=1

Reference’s

• McMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6–23.

• Hughey, J., Speer, P., & Peterson, N. (1999). Sense of community in community organizations: Structure and evidence of validity. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(1), 97-113.

• Peterson, N.A., Speer, P.W., & Hughey, J. (2006). Measuring sense of community: A methodological interpretation of the factor structure debate. Journal of Community Psychology, 34, 453–469.

• Peterson, A. N., Speer, P. W., Hughey, J., Armstead, T. L., Schneider, J. E., & Sheffer, M. A. (2008). Community organizations and sense of community: Further development in theory and measurement. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(6), 798–813.

• Peterson, A. N., Speer, P. W., & McMillan, D. W. (2008). Validation of a brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principle theory of sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 61–73.

• Peterson et al. (2008). Revised Community Organization Sense of Community Scale. In: Simmons C. A., Lehmann P. (eds). Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 374-375. (2013). Google Scholar

• Fernando, Rukshan. (2012). How Organizations Promote a Sense of Community and Empowerment Leading Towards Community Participation: A View of the Middle. Ph.D. dissertation. Southern New Hampshire University

Items of the Revised Community Organization Sense of Community Scale (COSCS-R)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Response Set: Strongly Agree, Agree, Somewhat Agree, Somewhat Disagree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree

Factor Structure:

• Relationship to Organization (RO): Items 1, 2

• Organization as Mediator (OM): Items 3, 4

• Influence of Organization (IO): Items 5, 6

• Bond to Community (BC): Items 7, 8

1. People have a real say about what goes on in (organization name).

2. People in (organization name) respond to what I think is important.

3. Being in (organization name) allows me to be around important people.

4. (Organization name) helps me to be a part of other groups in this city.

5. (Organization name) is respected in this city.

6. (Organization name) gets a lot done in this community.

7. I like living in this town; (city name) is the place for me.

8. (City name) is a good place for me to live.