Engagement in the digital age: Understanding 'what works' for participatory technologies in environmental decision making.

Hafferty, Caitlin, Reed, Mark S., Brockett, Beth F. T., Orford, Scott ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8517-4752, Berry, Robert, Short, Chris and Davis, Joshua 2024. Engagement in the digital age: Understanding 'what works' for participatory technologies in environmental decision making. Journal of Environmental Management 365 , 121365. 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121365

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Abstract

Effective engagement is crucial for enhancing environmental decision-making processes, fostering more sustainable and equitable outcomes. However, the success of engagement is highly variable and context-dependent. While theoretical frameworks have been developed to explain outcome variance in engagement in environmental decision-making, they have not yet been tested in digital contexts, leaving their applicability to digital engagement processes unclear. More broadly, there are unanswered questions about the effectiveness of digital tools in achieving the goals of engagement, which have become increasingly pertinent amidst growing concerns about the potential of digital technologies for exacerbating exclusions, ethical issues, and systematically undermining democratic progress. This paper addresses this evidence gap by presenting findings from interviews with practitioners in UK public, private, and third sector organisations. Our results provide empirical insights into the technical, ethical, and inclusivity debates surrounding digital tools and their effectiveness in promoting accessible engagement, high-quality social interaction, place-based decision-making, and more trustworthy and credible outcomes. Our findings indicate that while current engagement theories are applicable to digital environments, the key explanatory factors acquire new dimensions in digital compared to in-person contexts. Drawing on the findings, this study contributes novel insights to expand current theory for explaining “what works” in engagement in environmental decisions, enhancing its relevance and applicability in the digital age. The paper concludes with evidence-led recommendations for environmental practitioners to improve engagement processes in digital and remote settings.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0301-4797
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 June 2024
Date of Acceptance:	31 May 2024
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2024 11:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169584

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