10 pages., Via online journal., Development of natural resource user typologies has been viewed as a potentially
effective means of improving the effectiveness of natural resource management engagement
strategies. Prior research on Corn Belt farmers’ perspectives on climate change employed
a latent class analysis (LCA) that created a six-class typology—the Concerned, Uneasy,
Uncertain, Unconcerned, Confident, and Detached—to develop a better understanding of
farmer perspectives on climate change and inform more effective climate adaptation and
mitigation outreach strategies. The LCA employed 34 variables that are generally unobservable—beliefs about climate change, experience with extreme weather, perceived risks of
climate change, and attitudes toward climate action—to identify types. The research reported
in this paper builds on this typology of Corn Belt farmers by exploring 33 measures of observable farm enterprise characteristics, land management practices, and farmer demographics to
assess whether variations in these observable characteristics between the six farmer classes
display systematic patterns that might be sufficiently distinctive to guide audience segmentation strategies. While analyses detected some statistically significant differences, there were
few systematic, meaningful observable patterns of difference between groups of farmers with
differing perspectives on climate change. In other words, farmers who believe that anthropogenic climate change is occurring, that it poses risks to agriculture, and that adaptive action
should be taken, may look very much like farmers who deny the existence of climate change
and do not support action. The overall implication of this finding is that climate change
engagement efforts by Extension and other agricultural advisors should use caution when
looking to observable characteristics to facilitate audience segmentation. Additional analyses
indicated that the farmer types that tended to be more concerned about climate change and
supportive of adaptive action (e.g., Concerned and Uneasy) reported that they were more
influenced by key private and public sector actors in agricultural social networks. On the
other hand, farmers who were not concerned about climate change or supportive of adaptation (e.g., the Unconcerned, Confident, and Detached groups, comprising between one-third
and one-half of respondents) were less integrated into agricultural networks. This suggests that
Extension and other agricultural advisors should expand outreach efforts to farmers who are
not already within their spheres of influence.
17 pages., via online journal, By analyzing interview and survey data from U.S. Forest Service
employees, we examined the strategies used for communicating about
climate change within the agency and their effectiveness from the
perspective of agency employees. We found a limited awareness among
employees regarding climate policy. We found that horizontal information
flow through informal social networks was an important way in which
climate-change information was communicated. We also found a lack of
confidence among employees in their ability to provide feedback to
agency leadership. Our results suggest that (1) agency leadership’s ability
to set priorities and deliver positive vision is important for increasing
employee awareness and inspiring actions, (2) the agency could play a
role in facilitating formal and informal networking among employees, and
(3) using advanced information technologies may contribute to information flow horizontally and vertically, formally and informally.
15 pages., Via online journal., Preliminary results of a survey investigating individual well-being of residents in the
Great Barrier Reef region of Australia are presented. The well-being factors were
grouped into domains of: society, representing family and community issues; ecology, representing natural environment; and economy, dealing with economic issues
and provision of services. The relative perceived importance of factors was quantified, allowing for a creation of individual well-being functions. In the society domain,
family relations and health were identified as the most important contributors to
well-being. Water quality was the ecology domain factor that received highest
scores, and health services and income were the most important contributors to
the economic domain. The methodological approach used in this study has a potential to integrate ecological, social, and economic values of local people into
decision-making processes. The profiles of well-being thus generated would present
policymakers with information beyond that available from standard data sources.
17 pages., via online journal, Calls for improved targeting of conservation resources are increasingly common. However, arguments for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural conservation programs through proactive targeting are often tempered by questions regarding political feasibility. Such questions rest on an assumption that there will be resistance to these approaches, whether from farmers, farm groups, or elected officials, yet there is little research-based evidence supporting that assumption. Analysis of data on Iowa farmers’ attitudes toward targeted conservation indicates that most farmers support targeted approaches. Specific factors associated with endorsement of targeted approaches include awareness of agriculture's environmental impacts, belief that farmers should address water quality problems, having experienced significant soil erosion, belief that extreme weather will become more common, participation in the Conservation Reserve Program, and belief that farmers who have natural resource issues are less likely to seek conservation assistance. Concerns about government intrusion were negative predictors of support for targeted approaches.
16 pages., Via online journal., This study explores potential factors that lead to environmental opinion leadership behaviors such as informing the public about environmental issues and encouraging preventative behaviors among various social groups. Building on the theoretical framework of the diffusion of innovations model, these analyses explore the effects that mass media may have on perceptions of self-efficacy among opinion leaders and how self-efficacy may, in turn, encourage leaders to communicate about aquatic invasive species (AIS) to others in their social networks. Results indicate that mass media and governmental media can have both a positive and negative influence on levels of self-efficacy, and that opinion leaders with higher levels of self-efficacy are more likely to participate in behaviors that could potentially influence their social network(s). These findings not only highlight factors that influence opinion leadership regarding advocacy of environmental behaviors, but also offer insights as to how future campaigns can work with these groups to promote prevention strategies.
8 pages., via online journal., Given the well-documented impacts of angler behavior on the biological fitness of angled and released fish, optimizing the conservation value of catch-and-release angling hinges on the extent to which anglers are willing to adopt recommended best practices and refrain from harmful ones. One potentially powerful mechanism underlying adoption of best practices is the social pressure anglers can apply to one another to enforce community norms and values. Past work in other domains demonstrates that forms of interpersonal communication—including social sanctioning—can foster context-appropriate social norms and increase cooperative behavior; yet to date, little research has examined these dynamics in the context of species conservation. We conducted in-person and online surveys to explore the role of social sanctioning in the context of an internationally renowned wild steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fishery in British Columbia, Canada. We investigated how diverse social-psychological and demographic factors influence anglers' past and future sanctioning propensity. Results highlight that perceived capacity to influence the angling practices of others and professed concerns about one's own reputation were strongly predictive of both past and future sanctioning. Furthermore, while anglers reported relatively low-levels of past sanctioning behavior, most anglers simultaneously expressed a strong desire to sanction others in the future. Identifying ways to increase the social desirability and visibility of sanctioning actions could assist resource managers in promoting adoption and maintenance of best practices. More broadly, our findings underscore a significant yet underappreciated role for wildlife users and enthusiasts in cultivating a shared conservation ethic to help ensure biological conservation.
24 pages., Via online journal., We examined the relationship between attitudes toward urban ecological restoration and cognitive (perceived outcomes, value orientation, and objective knowledge), affective (emotional responses), and behavioral factors using residents of the Chicago Metropolitan Region. Positive and negative attitudes were both related to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration. In addition, positive attitudes were related to values while negative attitudes were related to emotions. Attitudes of high and low importance groups were connected to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration; however, attitudes of the high importance group were also related to values, emotions, and behavior. Positive and negative attitude groups differed on perceived outcomes, basic beliefs, knowledge, and behavior. Implications lie in understanding of complex attitudes toward natural resource issues and improved communication efforts to influence or educate the public.
