Role of Social and Human Capital in Household Resilience: Empirical Evidence from an Agricultural Village Community with Exposure to Significant Environmental Stresses in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examines a Sri Lankan agricultural village community to empirically explore the effects of social and human capital on the resilience of households that are exposed to significant environmental stresses. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 143 village respondents representing different households in the village community with critical exposure to three environmental stresses: drought, elephant crop raiding, and deprived access to potable water. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the relationship between the different dimensions of social and human capital and household resilience measured using subjective assessment scales. The findings indicate that bridging social capital, bonding social capital and economic activeness dimension of human capital significantly predict household resilience in contexts of environmental perturbation.