The Korea Local Administration Review

Despite the widely shared belief that social capital is important in forminggovernance system that can respond better to social problems, conceptualizationand analytical models of social capital have been flawed. This study attempts torespond to this weakness by examining the influence of two sets of variables, I.e,social characteristics and behavioral patterns of urban residents, upon the level ofinterpersonal and institutional trust. Multifaceted trust level is regarded here as adependent variable of social capital to be explained by social characteristics--dividedinto individual demographical variables and local characteristics such as sub-regionalincome level and duration of residence--and behavioral patterns--residents’community participation and networking.Survey data from Jongno-Gu residents reveal that 1) individual characteristicsrepresented by gender, age, educational attainment etc. influence the trust level.2) more participation and active networking increase both interpersonal andinstitutional trust. This study reveals that policy to enhance social capital isbetter to aim at nurturing suggested social characteristics and behaviors of urbanresidents.