Systemic Research on Owner Participation in Old Residential Community Management from the Perspective of Identity——a Case Study of a Typical Old Residential Community in Xi’an, China

Enhancing owner participation and realizing the long-term management of old residential communities is conducive to the sustainable development of human settlements. “Owner identity” is the premise that the individual has a comanagement right to the community, but little research has studied owner participation in old residential community management from the perspective of identity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish a systematic conceptual model based on the identity perspective that systematically abstracts and explains the process of whether and how owner involvement occurs and transforms. This paper, which adopts the method of theory-driven case study with identity and social identity theories as the reference theories, conducts a single case study of the M community in Xi’an, China. The results show that the intention of owners to participate in the management of the community depends on their identity salience; the behavioral norms of participation are internalized identity standards and in-group prototypes, and the behavioral practice is a combination of interactive identity verification and a positive distinctiveness process. This paper proposes five promotional countermeasures, including exploring public issues and organizing intergroup contact, to provide practical guidance for grassroots governments, property management companies and other comanagement subjects in guiding owner participation. This study contributes both to academic research and to policy decision-making by using the systemic and identity perspective to understand the mechanism of owner participation in old residential community management.