TY - JOUR
T1 - Stakeholders and social influence in a shadow network
T2 - Implications for transitions toward urban water sustainability in the Colorado River basin
AU - Wutich, Amber
AU - Demyers, Christine
AU - Bausch, Julia C.
AU - White, Dave D.
AU - Sullivan, Abigail
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-1462086, DMUU: DCDC III: Transformational Solutions for Urban Water Sustainability Transitions in the Colorado River Basin. Wutich and Bausch also received support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA2017-68007-26584, no. 1013079). We also thank Ray Quay for his help on the project. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendation expressed in this material are those of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF or USDA. This study received ethical approval under IRB#STUDY00002766 at the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance of Arizona State University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the author(s).
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Shadow networks can play an important role in facilitating transitions toward more sustainable and resilient social-ecological systems. Yet, few studies have explored the microdynamics of shadow networks to understand what makes them more or less effective in sustainability transitions. This article examines stakeholder roles and social influence in support of radical innovations over time in a shadow network focused on urban water sustainability in the Colorado River basin. Using qualitative analysis of meeting transcripts and social network analysis, we analyzed the roles of stakeholders from market, government, and scientific sectors in advocating for and influencing other shadow-network members to consider incremental and radical innovations over a 5-year period. The results show that, in our case, stakeholders from the market sector suggested most of the radical innovations. Government-aligned stakeholders mostly supported others’ suggestions and facilitated support for niche innovations to become more widespread. Science stakeholders were supportive of others’ proposals but were never the source of new ideas for radical innovations; they focused more on interrogating the evidence for and efficacy of others’ proposals. These results illustrate how shadow networks can nurture support for radical innovations over time, even when most network members are aligned with the current regime. This research yields new insights about shadow networks in sustainability transitions, and points to the need for more focused analysis of stakeholder roles and social influences within shadow networks to help understand how radical innovations gain support and become better institutionalized.
AB - Shadow networks can play an important role in facilitating transitions toward more sustainable and resilient social-ecological systems. Yet, few studies have explored the microdynamics of shadow networks to understand what makes them more or less effective in sustainability transitions. This article examines stakeholder roles and social influence in support of radical innovations over time in a shadow network focused on urban water sustainability in the Colorado River basin. Using qualitative analysis of meeting transcripts and social network analysis, we analyzed the roles of stakeholders from market, government, and scientific sectors in advocating for and influencing other shadow-network members to consider incremental and radical innovations over a 5-year period. The results show that, in our case, stakeholders from the market sector suggested most of the radical innovations. Government-aligned stakeholders mostly supported others’ suggestions and facilitated support for niche innovations to become more widespread. Science stakeholders were supportive of others’ proposals but were never the source of new ideas for radical innovations; they focused more on interrogating the evidence for and efficacy of others’ proposals. These results illustrate how shadow networks can nurture support for radical innovations over time, even when most network members are aligned with the current regime. This research yields new insights about shadow networks in sustainability transitions, and points to the need for more focused analysis of stakeholder roles and social influences within shadow networks to help understand how radical innovations gain support and become better institutionalized.
KW - Colorado River basin
KW - Radical innovation
KW - Shadow networks
KW - Stakeholder analysis
KW - Sustainability transition
KW - Water management
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U2 - 10.5751/ES-11451-250128
DO - 10.5751/ES-11451-250128
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083282049
VL - 25
JO - Conservation Ecology
JF - Conservation Ecology
SN - 1708-3087
IS - 1
M1 - 28
ER -