Usable environmental knowledge from the perspective of decision-making: the logics of consequentiality, appropriateness, and meaningfulness

Details

• Journal Title:
  Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
• Personal Author:
  Dewulf, Art ; Klenk, Nicole ; Wyborn, Carina ; Lemos, Maria Carmen
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
• Description:
  Environmental knowledge is a crucial input for public and private decision-making, yet often useful environmental knowledge appears to be unusable for decision-makers. To better understand how usable knowledge can be produced, we need to build on a better understanding of decision-making processes. We distinguish three different logics of decision-making and discuss their implications for knowledge use: (1) the logic of consequentiality, rooted in theories of rational choice, in which environmental knowledge is used because of its utilitarian value; (2) the logic of appropriateness, rooted in institutional theories, in which environmental knowledge is used because it fits existing rules and routines; and (3) the logic of meaningfulness, rooted in theories of sensemaking and interpretation, in which environmental knowledge is used because it makes sense to decision-makers. The theory and practice of environmental knowledge (co-)production can profit from considering these different logics of decision-making.
• Keywords:
  General Environmental Science General Social Sciences
• Source:
  Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42, 1-6
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.10.003
• ISSN:
  1877-3435
• Format:
  PDF
• Publisher:
  Elsevier BV
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA10OAR4310213
• Rights Information:
  Accepted Manuscript
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:653835a322e2ca1b36af3c39cd236e4896e8403837d671b43f4b469325f4530a
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/57706/noaa_57706_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 137.25 KB ]