Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes

Nicolas W Jager; Jens Newig; Edward Challies; Elisa Kochskämper

doi:10.1093/jopart/muz034

journal article Open Access Nov 26, 2019

Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes

Nicolas W Jager Jens Newig

Edward Challies

Elisa Kochskämper

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Vol. 30 No. 3 pp. 383-399 · Oxford University Press (OUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1093/jopart/muz034

Abstract

AbstractThere is much enthusiasm among scholars and public administrators for participatory and collaborative modes of governance as a means to tackle contemporary environmental problems. Participatory and collaborative approaches are expected to both enhance the environmental standard of the outputs of decision-making processes and improve the implementation of these outputs. In this article, we draw on a database of 305 coded published cases of public environmental decision-making to identify key pathways via which participation fosters effective environmental governance. We develop a conceptual model of the hypothesized relationship between participation, environmental outputs, and implementation, mediated by intermediate (social) outcomes such as social learning or trust building. Testing these assumptions through structural equation modeling and exploratory factor analysis, we find a generally positive effect of participation on the environmental standard of governance outputs, in particular where communication intensity is high and where participants are delegated decision-making power. Moreover, we identify two latent variables—convergence of stakeholder perspectives and stakeholder capacity building—to mediate this relationship. Our findings point to a need for treating complex and multifaceted phenomena such as participation in a nuanced manner, and to pay attention to how particular mechanisms work to foster a range of social outcomes and to secure more environmentally effective outputs and their implementation.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

96

[1]

Albrecht "Trust in public-sector senior management" International Journal of Human Resource Management (2003) 10.1080/09585190210158529

[2]

Alexander "Participation in planning and social networks increase social monitoring in community-based conservation" Conservation Letters (2018) 10.1111/conl.12562

[3]

Collaborative Governance in Theory and Practice

Chris Ansell, Alison Gash

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theo... 2007 10.1093/jopart/mum032

[4]

"Collaborative platforms as a governance strategy" Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (2018) 10.1093/jopart/mux030

[5]

Arnstein "A ladder of citizen participation" Journal of the American Planning Association (1969)

[6]

Banks "Publication bias. Understanding the myths concerning threats to the advancement of science" (2015)

[7]

Beierle (2002)

[8]

Biddle "Improving the effectiveness of collaborative governance regimes: Lessons from watershed partnerships" Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (2017) 10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000802

[9]

Biddle "Goal specificity: A proxy measure for improvements in environmental outcomes in collaborative governance" Journal of Environmental Management (2014) 10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.06.029

[10]

Birnbaum "Environmental co-governance, legitimacy, and the quest for compliance: When and why is stakeholder participation desirable?" Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning (2016) 10.1080/1523908x.2015.1077440

[11]

Collaborative environmental governance: Achieving collective action in social-ecological systems

Örjan Bodin

Science 2017 10.1126/science.aan1114

[12]

Bodin "The role of social networks in natural resource governance: What relational patterns make a difference?" Global Environmental Change (2009) 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.05.002

[13]

Bollen "Modeling strategies: In search of the holy Grail Kenneth" Structural Equation Modeling (2000) 10.1207/s15328007sem0701_03

[14]

Van Bommel "Social learning for solving complex problems: A promising solution or wishful thinking? A case study of multi-actor negotiation for the integrated management and sustainable use of the Drentsche Aa area in the Netherlands" Environmental Policy and Governance (2009) 10.1002/eet.526

[15]

Brody "Measuring the effects of stakeholder participation on the quality of local plan based on the principles of collaborative ecosystem management" Journal of Planning Education and Research (2003) 10.1177/0739456x03022004007

[16]

Van Bruggen "Informants in organizational marketing research: Why use multiple informants and how to aggregate responses" Journal of Marketing Research (2002) 10.1509/jmkr.39.4.469.19117

[17]

The Design and Implementation of Cross‐Sector Collaborations: Propositions from the Literature

John M. Bryson, Barbara C. Crosby, Melissa Middleton Stone

Public Administration Review 2006 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00665.x

[18]

Bulkeley "Participation and environmental governance: Consensus, ambivalence and debate" Environmental Values (2003) 10.3197/096327103129341261

[19]

Chen "The effectiveness of nonprofit lead-organization networks for social service delivery" Nonprofit Management & Leadership (2010) 10.1002/nml.20002

[20]

Connick "Outcomes of collaborative water policy making: Applying complexity thinking to evaluation" Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (2003) 10.1080/0964056032000070987

[21]

Delli Carpini "Public deliberation, discursive participation, and citizen engagement: A review of the empirical literature" Annual Review of Political Science (2004) 10.1146/annurev.polisci.7.121003.091630

[22]

Dukes "What we know about environmental conflict resolution: An analysis based on research" Conflict Resolution Quarterly (2004) 10.1002/crq.98

[23]

Emerson (2015)

[24]

An Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance

K. Emerson, T. Nabatchi, S. Balogh

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theo... 2012 10.1093/jopart/mur011

[25]

Emerson "Environmental conflict resolution: Evaluating performance outcomes and contributing factors" Conflict Resolution Quarterly (2009) 10.1002/crq.247

[26]

Fazey "Knowledge exchange: A review and research agenda for environmental management" Environmental Conservation (2012) 10.1017/s037689290600275x

[27]

Fisher "Evaluating environmental conflict resolution: Practitioners, projects, and the movement" Conflict Resolution Quarterly (2018) 10.1002/crq.21222

[28]

Fung "Varieties of participation in complex governance" Public Administration Review (2006) 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00667.x

[29]

Gerlak "Building a theory of learning in collaboratives: Evidence from the Everglades Restoration Program" Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (2011) 10.1093/jopart/muq089

[30]

Gerlak "The promise and performance of collaborative governance." (2013) 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199744671.013.0019

[31]

Gerlak "Learning our way out of environmental policy problems: a review of the scholarship" Policy Sciences (2018) 10.1007/s11077-017-9278-0

[32]

Getha-Taylor "Collaborating in the Absence of Trust? What Collaborative Governance Theory and Practice Can Learn From the Literatures of Conflict Resolution, Psychology, and Law" American Review of Public Administration (2019) 10.1177/0275074018773089

[33]

Hartley "Collaborative innovation: A viable alternative to market competition" Public Administration Review (2013) 10.1111/puar.12136

[34]

Hayton "Factor retention decisions in exploratory factor analysis: A tutorial on parallel analysis" Organizational Research Methods (2004) 10.1177/1094428104263675

[35]

Heikkila "Building a conceptual approach to collective learning: Lessons for public policy scholars" Policy Studies Journal (2013) 10.1111/psj.12026

[36]

Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives

Li‐tze Hu, Peter M. Bentler

Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary... 1999 10.1080/10705519909540118

[37]

Innes "Consensus building and complex adaptive systems: A framework for evaluating collaborative planning" Journal of the American Planning Association (1999) 10.1080/01944369908976071

[38]

"Reframing public participation: Strategies for the 21st Century" Planning Theory & Practice (2004) 10.1080/1464935042000293170

[39]

Isett "Networks in public administration scholarship: Understanding where we are and where we need to go" Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (2011) 10.1093/jopart/muq061

[40]

Jager "Quantitative analysis of qualitative social concepts and data? An analysis of methodological potential, challenges and biases using evidence from a large-n case survey on environmental governance" (2015)

[41]

Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias.

Lawrence R. James, Robert G. Demaree, Gerrit Wolf

Journal of Applied Psychology 1984 10.1037/0021-9010.69.1.85

[42]

Klijn (2016)

[43]

Klijn "The impact of network management on outcomes in governance networks" Public Administration (2010) 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2010.01826.x

[44]

Kochskämper "Impact of participation on sustainable water management planning: comparative analysis of eight cases" (2018)

[45]

Kochskämper "Participation for effective environmental governance? A comparative study of European water policy implementation in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom" Journal of Environmental Management (2016) 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.08.007

[46]

Koebele "Assessing outputs, outcomes, and barriers in collaborative water governance: A case study" Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education (2015) 10.1111/j.1936-704x.2015.03196.x

[47]

Koebele "Integrating collaborative governance theory with the Advocacy Coalition Framework" Journal of Public Policy (2019) 10.1017/s0143814x18000041

[48]

Koontz "Back to the future? Collaborative environmental governance theory and practice" (2016) 10.4337/9781785360411.00011

[49]

Kumar "Conducting interorganizational research using key informants" Academy of Management Journal (1993) 10.2307/256824

[50]

Larsson "Case survey methodology: Quantitative analysis of patterns across case studies" Academy of Management Journal (1993) 10.2307/256820

Showing 50 of 96 references

Cited By

143

Participation in protected area governance: A systematic case survey of the evidence on ecological and social outcomes

Jule Marie Huber, Jens Newig · 2023

Journal of Environmental Management

Metrics

143

Citations

96

References

Details

Published: Nov 26, 2019
Vol/Issue: 30(3)
Pages: 383-399
License: View

Authors

N

Nicolas W Jager

Leuphana University Lüneburg; Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg

J

Jens Newig

Leuphana University Lüneburg

E

Edward Challies

Leuphana University Lüneburg; University of Canterbury

E

Elisa Kochskämper

Leuphana University Lüneburg

Cite This Article

Nicolas W Jager, Jens Newig, Edward Challies, et al. (2019). Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(3), 383-399. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muz034

Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes

You May Also Like