The Importance of Social Capital and Community Dynamics for Effective Extension Programming

Authors

• Samuel CH Mindes, Iowa State UniversityFollow
• Katherine Dentzman, Iowa State UniversityFollow

Volume

64

Issue

2

Abstract

The Iowa Pest Resistance Management Program was formed to encourage community-level pesticide resistance management. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach collaborated with four Iowa stakeholder communities to establish pilot projects. Despite initial momentum, these programs floundered. We investigated the program's challenges in establishing sustained success in the pilot projects using interviews and focus groups with participants. Our analytical approach considered the critical roles of bonding social capital and bridging social capital in creating entrepreneurial social infrastructure. We provide lessons learned for future community coordination efforts.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

Samuel CH Mindes and Katherine Dentzman contributed equally to all phases of this research, including study conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript drafting and editing.

Data Availability

The data are not publicly available due to privacy/ethical restrictions, as they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Mindes, S., & Dentzman, K. (2026). The Importance of Social Capital and Community Dynamics for Effective Extension Programming. Journal of Extension, 64(2), Article 15. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.5867