Inter-agency management of rangelands: learning effects on innovation adoption

This is a pre-project presentation designed to receive feedback on theory/methods to be used in my dissertation research: Public rangelands constitute nearly half the land in the western United States; however, this land is managed by a multitude of different federal and state rangeland management agencies. With this mosaic of different management strategies across the landscape, adoption of management innovations that promote the sustainable management of rangelands may not reach their full potential. Empirical data concerning innovation adoption and knowledge transfer among and within these agencies is lacking. Previous research shows that success-biased imitation, in comparison to conformist or individual learning strategies, increases the probability of dealing with ecological disturbances. Thus, for rangeland managers to adopt the most effective management plan, they must rely at least partially on information gathered from fellow managers. I plan to use semi-structured qualitative interviews with agency personnel to ascertain the management framework in which they operate, resulting in a social network of intra- and inter-agency connections based on whom one goes to for advice, perceptions of those advisors’ success, and whether it leads to adoption of a rangeland management practice. The data from this empirical case study will be helpful in determining how rangeland managers perceived as successful can affect the adoption rates of management innovations. Furthermore, I will examine how the perceived success of the initial adopter of an innovation within this network can either limit or expand the innovation’s adoption. Examining patterns of adoption between agencies may show where there is a breakdown in transfer of innovations, marking areas where increased collaboration is necessary. These areas are crucial to identify because agencies managing rangelands will have to operate in a continually changing environment. Their ability to share innovations and knowledge amongst themselves will increase their transformative capacity and the subsequent management quality