RAPID: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Social Outcomes of Participatory Stakeholder Engagement Processes

越来越多地建议参与性利益攸关方参与进程，以帮助指导关于有争议和基于价值的自然资源管理问题的决策。这些过程通常涉及通过促进的、开放的对话将利益攸关方聚集在一起，然后可以导致共同创建的包含不同价值观的解决方案的开发。越来越多的文献表明，这些进程可以带来许多好处，包括增强利益攸关方和公众对决策者的信任，增加学习和公众对决策的接受，以及减少利益攸关方群体之间的冲突。然而，很少有研究系统地研究这些过程随着时间的推移对这些社会结果的影响。这项研究解决了文献中的这一空白，通过对正在开发的参与性利益相关者参与过程的社会结果进行分析，以根据2020年11月通过的一项州投票倡议的要求，为狼重新引入科罗拉多州提供信息。这标志着选民首次决定在美国重新引入一个物种，这为实施参与性利益相关者恢复狼的进程并评估其影响提供了一个前所未有的机会。调查结果将直接向自然资源管理机构和组织通报利益攸关方参与进程的哪些方面是有效的以及为什么是有效的。此外，通过这个项目，研究小组与科罗拉多州公园和野生动物合作，直接向科罗拉多州重新引入狼的利益相关者过程的适应性管理提供信息，以改善在这个问题上的社会结果(即，信任、减少冲突、可接受性)。通过对利益相关者和公众的反复访谈和调查，研究人员考察了利益相关者过程的四个社会结果的指标是如何随着时间的推移而变化的：1)社会学习；2)公众/利益相关者对管理战略的可接受性；3)对机构的信任；以及4)社会冲突。为了检验这些结果，该团队通过测量信任、学习和可接受性建立在现有文献的基础上，还开发和调整了社会冲突的社会心理驱动因素(即对群体内、群体外和冲突背景的感知)的新指标。这是建立在关于在特定自然资源管理背景下解决冲突的更广泛文献的基础上的。除了纵向分析，学者们还检查了利益相关者和管理者对这一过程的看法，并将它们与社会结果的纵向指标进行了比较。这项研究还通过审查从这类过程中吸取的经验在多大程度上传播到更广泛的社会，以及这是否会在不同参与程度的其他利益攸关方和公众中造成不同的社会结果，从而为关于利益攸关方参与进程的文献作出贡献。具体地说，这项研究考察了利益相关者过程中关于狼重新引入的信息是如何与其他人分享的，以及同样的四个社会结果是否在其他利益相关者和更广泛的公众之间发生了变化。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Participatory stakeholder engagement processes are increasingly recommended to help guide decision making about contentious and value-based natural resource management issues. These processes typically involve bringing stakeholders together through facilitated, open dialogue, which can then lead to the development of co-created solutions that incorporate diverse values. A growing body of literature suggests that these processes can result in numerous benefits, including enhanced stakeholder and public trust in decision-makers, increased learning and public acceptance of decisions, and reduced conflict between stakeholder groups. Few studies, however, have systematically examined the impacts of such processes on these social outcomes over time. This research addresses this gap in the literature by conducting an analysis of social outcomes from a participatory stakeholder engagement process being developed to inform wolf reintroduction into Colorado as mandated by passage of a state ballot initiative in November 2020. This marks the first time voters have decided to reintroduce a species in the U.S., providing an unprecedented opportunity to implement participatory stakeholder processes on wolf restoration and to evaluate their impact. The findings will directly inform natural resource management agencies and organizations about which aspects of stakeholder engagement processes are effective and why. Additionally, through this project, the research team collaborates with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to directly inform the adaptive management of the stakeholder process for wolf reintroduction in Colorado to improve social outcomes (i.e., trust, conflict reduction, acceptability) on this issue. Through repeated interviews and surveys of stakeholders and members of the public, the researchers examine how indicators of four proposed social outcomes of stakeholder processes change over time: 1) social learning; 2) public/stakeholder acceptability of management strategies; 3) trust in institutions; and 4) social conflict. To examine these outcomes, the team builds on existing literature by measuring trust, learning, and acceptability and also develops and adapts novel metrics of the social-psychological drivers of social conflict (i.e., perceptions of the in-group, out-group, and conflict context). This builds on the broader literature on conflict resolution in the specific context of natural resource management. In addition to the longitudinal analysis, the scholars examine stakeholder and manager perceptions of the process and compare them with longitudinal indicators of social outcomes. The research also contribute to the literature on stakeholder engagement processes by examining the extent to which learning from such processes diffuses to broader society, and whether this results in different social outcomes among additional stakeholders and members of the public with differing various levels of engagement. Specifically, the research examines how information from the stakeholder process on wolf reintroduction is shared with others and whether the same four social outcomes change among other stakeholders and the broader public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.