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Published: Nov 1, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.12723
Issue: Vol. 51 No. 11 (2023)
Keywords:
satisfaction with community public service, subjective well-being, social support, China, community study

Satisfaction with community public services, social support, and subjective well-being in China

Main Article Content

Yanghang Yu

College of Public Finance and Management, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics

Yaping Zhang

College of Public Finance and Management, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics
Cite this article:  Yu, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Satisfaction with community public services, social support, and subjective well-being in China. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 51(11), e12723.


Abstract
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Satisfaction with community public services reflects the quality of public services in communities, which is important for residents’ well-being. We collected data in China through a survey, and regression analyses were used to test our hypotheses. Results from 1,112 residents show that satisfaction with community public services is positively related to subjective well-being, and social support has a mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being. Findings of this study provide a culture-specific and geographical perspective of community public services and subjective well-being, and highlight the importance of well-being in community studies.

Article Highlights

  • Satisfaction with community public services is positively associated with social support and subjective well-being.
  • Social support mediated the effect of satisfaction with community public service on subjective well-being.
  • This study provides a culture-specific and geographical perspective of community public services and subjective well-being, highlighting the importance of well-being in community studies.

Scholars have recognized that public services can have a great impact on residents’ well-being (Ding, 2022; Michalos & Zumbo, 1999). Although some studies have explored the relationship between urban or rural public services and well-being (Addas & Maghrabi, 2021; Hartanti et al., 2022), they have not addressed the importance of community public services and its impact on well-being (Yu, 2021). In addition, previous researchers have studied the relationship between community satisfaction and residents’ well-being (Chen et al., 2020; Ren et al., 2021), but community public satisfaction is more focused on public services and the relationship between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being has not been investigated.

The community is a place for residents to take part in social activities that have an important impact on the well-being of all members in that community (Chen et al., 2020; Keyes, 1998). Many cities in China have worked on building happy communities; however, most studies about communities in China have been focused on the governance model (Li & Wang, 2022) rather than how communities influence residents’ well-being (Lan, 2017). One of the most important duties of community in China is to provide high quality public services to the residents (Yu, 2021), but the influencing mechanism between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being is still unknown.

To fill this gap, we used data collected from different urban communities in China to examine the impact of satisfaction with community public services on subjective well-being and the mediating role of social support in this relationship. The results can add to the studies of community well-being from a Chinese perspective.

Literature Review and Hypotheses

Satisfaction With Community Public Services and Subjective Well-Being

Satisfaction with community public service refers to a subjective perception of whether diverse public services meet residents’ expectations (Yu, 2021) and reflects the quality of the community public services, which is important for residents’ life satisfaction and health (Ramezani et al., 2022). Most researchers have studied satisfaction with public services from a rural or urban perspective (Csoba & Sipos, 2022; Wang et al., 2023). However, very few studies have focused on satisfaction with community public services (Xu et al., 2015).  
 
Subjective well-being refers to a broad psychological phenomenon, including both emotional and cognitive elements, and combines an individuals’ life satisfaction and the balance of their positive and negative affect (Diener, 1984). Both the amenities and the environment in a community can influence residents’ well-being (Chen et al., 2020). The ultimate goal of community governance is to have happy residents (Lan, 2017). In a community with good governance, individuals are provided with high quality public services, which can result in improved well-being. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943) shows that people will experience feelings of well-being when their needs are met. Communities with good public services will satisfy residents’ basic needs and increase their life satisfaction (Yu, 2021). Based on the above analysis, in this study we proposed the following:
Hypothesis 1: Satisfaction with community public services will be positively related to subjective well-being.

The Mediating Effect of Social Support

Social support refers to psychological or material resources from one’s social networks that assist in coping with stressful challenges in daily life (Cohen, 2004). Perceived social support focuses on the number of different facets of support that individuals feel that they receive from their social networks (Chen & Li, 2013). Perceived social support may reflect the actual quality and quantity of support that individuals receive from the community.
 
Satisfaction with community public services is beneficial for individuals’ social support through two mechanisms: emotional support and instrumental support. High satisfaction with community public services may lead to harmonious interpersonal relationships and participation in the community, which can help residents reduce isolation, acquire a positive emotional state, and cope with difficulties (Chen & Li, 2013). Also, high satisfaction with community public services indicates that communities are equipped with useful facilities and a good environment that provides material support for residents (Addas & Maghrabi, 2021).
 
Social support is positively related to well-being, including subjective well-being, social well-being, and psychological well-being (Chen et al., 2020; Cohen, 2004). Social support is also positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively associated with anxiety (Park, 2022). Therefore, residents’ subjective well-being can be affected by their social support. Based on the above, we hypothesized the following:
Hypothesis 2: Satisfaction with community public services will be positively related to social support for residents.
Hypothesis 3: Social support will be positively related to residents’ subjective well-being.
Hypothesis 4: Social support will have a mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being.
 

Method

Participants and Procedure

Ethical approval for this study was gained from the appropriate committee of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics.

Participants were drawn from the residents living in urban communities in the Chinese city of Kunming. We used a stratified random sampling procedure to obtain a representative sample in four urban districts. A total of 1,200 questionnaires were distributed and 1,168 were collected. After the screening, 1,112 valid questionnaires were obtained (men, n = 486; women, n = 626). In terms of age, 471 (42.4%) respondents were younger than 30 years, 292 (26.3%) were aged 31–40, 241 (21.7%) were 41–50, and 107 (9.6%) were over 50 years. Participants answered the questionnaires individually in person with a face-to-face format. Once the survey was completed, participants received a thank you gift (e.g., soap or tissues). All participants gave informed consent before completing the measures.

Measures

Satisfaction With Community Public Services

Satisfaction with community public services was measured using a scale by Yu (2021), including community education, community social security, community safety, community living facilities, community sports service, community living environment, and community transportation. This scale includes 25 items; example items are “I am satisfied with the education of middle school of the community” and “I am satisfied with the public transportation convenience of the community.” For our study the KMO was .97 and Cronbach’s alpha was .97.
 

Social Support

Social support was measured with a scale by Chen and Li (2013). This is a three-item scale; example items are “I can easily find someone to help me if I meet troubles in the community” and “I can easily get the information I need in the community.” For our study the KMO was .75 and Cronbach’s alpha was .92.
 

Subjective Well-Being

Subjective well-being was measured using a scale by Chen and Li (2014), which has two parts: life satisfaction and positive emotions. Life satisfaction includes five items; example items are “In most cases, my current life is very close to my ideal state of life” and “I am satisfied with my life.” Positive emotions includes seven items with the following structure: “How would you rate your recent emotion (e.g., interesting, happy, valuable, hopeful) on a 5-point scale?” For our study the KMO was .94 and Cronbach’s alpha was .95.
 
Most of the above variables were measured by using a Likert-type 5-point scale, where 5 = strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree. SPSS 21.0 was used for description and analysis.

Results

Common Method Biases

As one of the main sources of measurement error, common method variance is a potential problem that may reduce the validity of the conclusions. We tested for common method bias with a single-factor measurement model by combining all items into a single factor (Podsakoff et al., 2003; Rhee et al., 2017). This single-factor model had a poor fit, comparative fit index = .64, Tucker–Lewis index = .62, goodness-of-fit index = .43, root mean square residual = .13, root mean square error of approximation = .15, indicating common method variance is not a significant problem within the data. 

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Among the Study Variables

The means, standard deviations, and Pearson’s correlations for satisfaction with community public services, social support, and subjective well-being are presented in Table 1, which shows that each of the three variables was positively and significantly related to the others.

 Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations Among Variables

Table/Figure

Note. *** p  < .001.

Regression Analyses

To test the hypotheses, mediation analyses were conducted following the recommendations of Preacher and Hayes (2004), using Model 4 of Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro. Results shown in Table 2 indicate that the direct effect of satisfaction with community public services on subjective well-being is significant, b = 0.40, 95% CI [0.35, 0.44], which supports Hypothesis 1. Satisfaction with community public services has a positive impact on social support, b = 0.72, 95% CI [0.67, 0.78], which supports Hypothesis 2. Social support is positively associated with subjective well-being, b = 0.35, 95% CI [0.31, 0.39], which supports Hypothesis 3. Moreover, social support significantly mediates the effect of satisfaction with community public services on subjective well-being. The bias-corrected estimate of the indirect effect is significant, b = 0.25, 95% CI [0.22, 0.30], providing support for Hypothesis 4.

Table 2. Results of Regression Analyses

Table/Figure
Note. CI = confidence interval; LL = lower limit; UL = upper limit.
*** p < .001.
 

Discussion and Conclusion


Community is an important place for daily activities and interpersonal interaction of residents, and has an important impact on residents’ well-being. This study explored the impact of satisfaction with community public services on subjective well-being, and the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being. The results give empirical evidence to support the positive impact of community public services on subjective well-being, as well as its related psychological mechanism in the relationship.

These findings have significant theoretical contributions in at least three ways. First, the study demonstrates the influencing factor of subjective well-being from the perspective of community public services. Previous studies have focused on the importance of community satisfaction on residents’ subjective well-being, rarely mentioning the role of community public services (Chen et al., 2020; Ren et al., 2021). The results suggest that the strength of community public services is an important factor for individuals to increase their subjective well-being. Second, the results enrich the literature by providing empirical evidence on how satisfaction with community public services influences residents’ subjective well-being. Social support plays a mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with community public services and subjective well-being. Third, this article highlights the public value of community governance. Community in China is regarded as a basic unit for social management and state governance (Sun, 2016). Prior studies about Chinese community governance have focused on the governance model (Li & Wang, 2022) rather than the well-being outputs of these communities. Findings of this study can shed some light on the development of happy communities in China.

Further, this study provides valuable implications from a practical perspective. First, the results indicate that policy makers should take care to improve the quality of public services in the community. Second, community residents should take an active part in community affairs and cultivate a good community culture, which could offer opportunities for them to establish meaningful relationships with others.

Our research is not without limitations. First, given the cross-sectional research design, any causal conclusions must be considered with caution. Longitudinal or experimental research is thus strongly recommended in the future. Second, there are many different kinds of communities in China. Therefore, it is necessary to research the influence of different kinds of communities on residents’ well-being. Third, in the present study we only collected the data from one city in China. As culture is an important factor that can influence well-being, this may limit the generalizability of our findings to other regions and countries. Another priority for future research is to test the mechanism in different cultural backgrounds.

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 Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations Among Variables

Table/Figure

Note. *** p  < .001.


Table 2. Results of Regression Analyses

Table/Figure
Note. CI = confidence interval; LL = lower limit; UL = upper limit.
*** p < .001.
 

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This study was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Fund (72064042), the Xingdian Talent Support Program of Yunnan Province (YNQR-QNRC-2020-127), and the Graduate Innovation Fund Project of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics (2023YUFEYC028).

Yaping Zhang, College of Public Finance and Management, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, 237 Long Quan Road, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650221, People’s Republic of China. Email: [email protected]

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