Two Paths to the Same Destination: Participation Levels as a Result of Affiliation Networks in Civil Society Organizations

Voluntary participation is relevant in (CSOs) and crucial to interpret their mechanisms from the perspective of relationship marketing. This article presents two objectives: the first, from the psychometric perspective, was to examine the effect of trust in affective commitment and in participation in Mexican CSOs; the second from the sociometric view was to identify the prominent actors in civil society. An empirical and explicative research was developed in Mexico through a survey applied to postgraduate alumni, professors, and administrative university personnel. The results showed that trust and commitment are antecedents of participation in CSOs. Additionally, it was found that the size of the operation and the ability to obtain resources do not determine the centrality of the CSO within the social network. This study adds to prior literature the relationship between trust and affective commitment in institutions with participation from self-efficacy understood as the confidence in one’s own capabilities.