Social Capital and Migration in Rural Area Development

Indonesia's rural regions are characterized by widespread poverty, underemployment, and surplus of low-skilled labor. Migration is common among rural inhabitants for survival, to pursue economic opportunities, and support household activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between social capital and migration from rural areas in Indonesia. The definition of social capital is not derived from theories of networking, bonding and bridging ties, but from community psychology developed by Perkins and Long. A sense of community and a sense of place measure the relation between neighboring, participation in community activity and migration. Using data from 250 household respondents (with at least one migrant worker) in Arjowilangun village, Malang, Indonesia, this study constructs three factors through principal component analysis: sense of community, sense of place, and neighboring. This three factors plus some demographic attributes: income, education and type of migrant, are used as explanatory variables for modeling the relation between social capital and migration using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our results suggest that a sense of place and a sense of community and some demographic attributes significantly influence the duration of work of migrant workers. We concur with hypothesis two, that is, households with higher social capital affordable to send family members as migrant labor.