Measuring, mapping and quantifying the effects of trust and informal communication on transboundary collaboration in the Great Lakes fisheries policy network

Song, AM; Temby, O; Kim, D; Saavedra Cisneros, A; Hickey, GM

Measuring, mapping and quantifying the effects of trust and informal communication on transboundary collaboration in the Great Lakes fisheries policy network

Song, AM

Temby, O Kim, D Saavedra Cisneros, A Hickey, GM

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Global Environmental Change, 2019, 54 pp. 6 - 18
Issue Date:: 2019-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Song, AM https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9187-5309	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Temby, O	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kim, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Saavedra Cisneros, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hickey, GM	en_US
dc.date.issued	2019-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Global Environmental Change, 2019, 54 pp. 6 - 18	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0959-3780	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/138044
dc.description.abstract	© 2018 The Authors Ecosystem-based management of fisheries and other transboundary natural resources require a number of organizations across jurisdictions to exchange knowledge, coordinate policy goals and engage in collaborative activities. Trust, as part of social capital, is considered a key mechanism facilitating the coordination of such inter-organizational policy networks. However, our understanding of multi-dimensional trust as a theoretical construct and an operational variable in environmental and natural resource management has remained largely untested. This paper presents an empirical assessment of trust and communication measures applied to the North American Great Lakes fisheries policy network. Using a scale-based method developed for this purpose, we quantify the prevalence of different dimensions of trust and in/formal communication in the network and their differentiated impacts on decision-making and goal consensus. Our analysis reveals that calculation-based ‘rational trust’ is important for aligning mutual goals, but relationship-based ‘affinitive trust’ is most significant for influencing decision-making. Informal communication was also found to be a strong predictor of how effectively formal communication will influence decision-making, confirming the “priming” role of informal interactions in formal inter-agency dealings. The results also show the buffering and interactive functions of these components in strengthening institutional resilience, with procedural trust undergirding the system to compensate for a lack of well-developed relationships. Overall, this study provides evidence to suggest that informal communication and multi-dimensional trust constitute a crucial element for improving collaboration and reducing conflict in the networked governance of transboundary natural resource systems.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Global Environmental Change	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.001	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Measuring, mapping and quantifying the effects of trust and informal communication on transboundary collaboration in the Great Lakes fisheries policy network	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	54	en_US
utslib.for	0502 Environmental Science and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1605 Policy and Administration	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Social and Political Sciences Program
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	54	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018 The Authors Ecosystem-based management of fisheries and other transboundary natural resources require a number of organizations across jurisdictions to exchange knowledge, coordinate policy goals and engage in collaborative activities. Trust, as part of social capital, is considered a key mechanism facilitating the coordination of such inter-organizational policy networks. However, our understanding of multi-dimensional trust as a theoretical construct and an operational variable in environmental and natural resource management has remained largely untested. This paper presents an empirical assessment of trust and communication measures applied to the North American Great Lakes fisheries policy network. Using a scale-based method developed for this purpose, we quantify the prevalence of different dimensions of trust and in/formal communication in the network and their differentiated impacts on decision-making and goal consensus. Our analysis reveals that calculation-based ‘rational trust’ is important for aligning mutual goals, but relationship-based ‘affinitive trust’ is most significant for influencing decision-making. Informal communication was also found to be a strong predictor of how effectively formal communication will influence decision-making, confirming the “priming” role of informal interactions in formal inter-agency dealings. The results also show the buffering and interactive functions of these components in strengthening institutional resilience, with procedural trust undergirding the system to compensate for a lack of well-developed relationships. Overall, this study provides evidence to suggest that informal communication and multi-dimensional trust constitute a crucial element for improving collaboration and reducing conflict in the networked governance of transboundary natural resource systems.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/138044