Immigrant religious organizations in the United States are uniquely positioned to address critical issues beyond religion because of their moral, social and cultural prominence in community life. Increasingly, religious organizations have taken on a leadership role around health issues such as decreasing HIV/AIDS stigma and misinformation. However, there are barriers for some religious leaders and organizations in adopting new health programs, especially if the issue is seen as controversial. Our study examines how social network structures among religious members influence organizational acceptance of new information or controversial ideas, like HIV/AIDS. Using social network analysis methods on data from 2841 contacts in 20 immigrant Chinese Buddhist temples and Christian churches in New York City, we tested whether an immigrant religious organization's likelihood of being involved in HIV/AIDS activities was associated with the presence of bonding or bridging social capital. These two forms of social capital have been found to mediate the levels of exposure and openness to new ideas. We found HIV/AIDS-involved religious organizations were more likely to have lower levels of bonding social capital as indicated by members having fewer ties and fewer demographic attributes in common. We also found HIV/AIDS-involved religious organizations were more likely to have higher levels of bridging social capital as indicated by members having significantly more ties to people outside of their organization. Our study highlights the importance of looking beyond religion type and leadership attributes to social network structures among members in order to better explain organization-level receptiveness to HIV/AIDS involvement. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

Chinese Asians Immigrants organizations United States Religion Social network analysis HIV/AIDS Social capital

education Buddhist immigrant organizational framework social capital Protestantism HIV Infections Asian morality religious personnel Human immunodeficiency virus infection human middle aged social network Christianity Aged organization aid Human immunodeficiency virus religion church role United States Buddhism health program Humans migrant psychology New York male New York [New York (STT)] Emigrants and Immigrants female chemical binding stigma prevention disease control adult Asian immigrant clergy network analysis New York [United States] exposure