Stakeholder involvement in collaborative regulatory processes: Using automated coding to track attendance and actions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Scott, Tyler A.; Ulibarri, Nicola; Scott, Ryan P.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis; University of California System; University of California Irvine; Colorado State University System; Colorado State University Fort Collins
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983
• DOI: 10.1111/rego.12199
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 219-237
• 关键词: network governance; management; PARTICIPATION; POWER; DECISION; ecology; models; LIFE

摘要

Regulation increasingly mandates collaborative approaches to increase stakeholder input and streamline approval processes. However, understanding how to maintain stakeholder involvement over the course of a long collaborative process is vital to optimize effectiveness. This paper observes more than 700 stakeholders involved in developing and implementing a dam operating license over 16 years. We use text mining and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to observe meeting attendance and recorded actions in meeting minutes. We find that involvement decreased after the initial planning phase, but steadily increased through license development and implementation. After the regulatory mandate to consult with external stakeholders dissolved, overall attendance declined while attendance stability increased, meaning that the non-mandatory stage involved a smaller cadre of dedicated actors. This indicates that high-performing mandated stakeholder involvement processes rely on a constrained group of conveners to sustain interaction and have less turnover than what might be expected given existing evidence from grassroots involvement; assumptions about group dynamics based on involvement in grassroots processes may lead to improper predictions about who will participate, and how, in processes where stakeholder involvement is mandated.