A multilevel analysis of resident participation in multi-owned housing governance in Hong Kong and Macau

A growing body of literature in community and housing studies recognizes the importance of resident participation for effective governance of multi-owned housing (MOH). MOH is commonly characterized with the co-existing of exclusively-used and shared elements in the housing development or community. This feature necessitates the social, legal and financial interdependence of all individual homeowners pertaining to the management, maintenance and usage of the co-owned properties. In this light, collective actions of the homeowners are necessary for the effective governance of the MOH development. In spite of the essentiality of resident participation, the seminal free-rider theorem put forward by Mancur Olson posits that collective action is not sustained or initiated unless it is profitable for each individual partaker. In reality, nonetheless, quite many residents in MOH enthusiastically take part in collective actions related to housing governance. This paradox calls for an explanation. Resorting to the findings of a survey-based study in Hong Kong and Macau, this paper investigates the effects of structural, intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints on homeowner participation and the moderating effects development attributes had upon the negative impacts of participation constraints on homeowners’ participation intensity using a multilevel approach. Results show that in addition to development attributes such as development scale, development age, resident heterogeneity and governance quality, structural and interpersonal constraints were significant determinants of homeowner participation. The negative effects of these constraints on resident participation in MOH governance were weakened by development age. The analysis results provide strategic directions for the governments and resident associations to promote resident participation by considering the characteristics of a MOH development.