Community Storytelling Networks and Empowerment of Migrant Domestic Workers: A Communication Infrastructure Approach

Abstract

Guided by communication infrastructure theory, this study examines the role of storytelling agents and integrated connectedness to community storytelling networks (ICSN) in empowering disenfranchised groups, particularly migrant domestic workers (MDWs). This study is based on survey data from 402 Indonesian MDWs in Hong Kong. The analysis identified a positive association between ICSN and civic participation as a form of behavioral empowerment. Moreover, ICSN also significantly influenced intrapersonal empowerment, which operated via social support. These findings shed light on the potential of ICSN in empowering marginalized groups, and thus, more effort should be devoted to strengthening the workers’ connections to their community storytelling networks.