Providing a Model of the Impact of Clergy’s Social Capital on Public Mobilization in the Sacred Defense: A Structural Model Based on Three Dimensions of Trust, Participation, and Solidarity

As one of the authoritative religious and social institutions in Iran, the clergy has always held a special position in generating and strengthening social capital, and during sensitive historical junctures—particularly the Sacred Defense era (Iran-Iraq War)—it has been able to play an effective role in public mobilization and organizing voluntary participation by utilizing cultural, religious, and social capacities. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a model of the impact of the clergy’s social capital on public mobilization in the Sacred Defense. In terms of purpose, this research is applied, and in terms of nature and implementation method, it is a descriptive-survey correlational study. The statistical population consisted of university professors, Sacred Defense researchers, faculty members in the fields of management, sociology, political science, and theology, commanders and managers familiar with the Sacred Defense, and experts in the fields of culture and sacrifice. Using purposive sampling and based on the criteria of structural equation modeling (SEM), 245 individuals were selected as the sample size. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 32 items across four constructs: the clergy’s social capital (trust, participation, and solidarity) and public mobilization, structured on a five-point Likert scale. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by experts, and its construct validity was examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Furthermore, the reliability of the instrument was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26 and SmartPLS version 4. The structural model analysis results indicated that the clergy’s social capital has a positive and significant effect on public mobilization during the Sacred Defense. Moreover, all three dimensions—trust, participation, and solidarity—exerted positive and significant effects on public mobilization, with the trust dimension accounting for the highest impact. The model fit indices also demonstrated a favorable fit of the proposed model and its appropriate capability in explaining the variances of the public mobilization variable. Accordingly, it can be concluded that strengthening the clergy’s social capital through enhancing public trust, developing social participation, and consolidating national solidarity plays a crucial role in upgrading public mobilization capacity and increasing social cohesion under crisis conditions.