Information Sharing Among Park Professionals: Facilitating Ecological Restoration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18666/JPRA-2020-10147Keywords:
ecological restoration, information sharing, land management, organization, trustAbstract
Ecological restoration projects in nature preserves are most likely to be effective when those holding different roles within park agencies share information in a complete and timely manner. However, when the information contains sensitive material the transfer of knowledge can become difficult. Anytime sensitive information on topics such as endangered species or cultural artifacts is shared, there is a risk that the information could be used for unethical activities. With the potential for sensitive information to be used with corrupt intent, some park staff members could feel that sharing information might be outside of the best interest of the agency’s mission to protect the ecological and cultural functioning of the nature preserve. Anytime information sharing occurs it is possible that knowledge could be acquired by corrupt actors potentially putting the material resources with the preserve lands at risk of damage. However, if information is not shared it would be a hindrance to ecological restoration projects.
To facilitate the sharing of information related to ecological restoration, park agencies with mandates to both provide for human use and preserve ecological conditions need to invest in both technical and social infrastructures. Park agencies generally accumulate information across time in ways that staff members could access it, usually done in informal and decentralized ways. Organizations regularly utilize technical investments in computers and electronic filing to facilitate sharing information by providing the necessary tools. However, research in park management and ecological restoration has not fully explored the social investments that facilitate sharing information.
A conceptual framework is developed to explain the relationship between trust, risk, and information sharing in ecological restoration projects within a public park agency. A complementary mixed-methods approach was applied including nine in-person interviews and a survey (n=49; 96% response rate) distributed to all professional staff members of the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Illinois USA (FPCC). Acknowledging the role of information sharing in public park management, the FPCC developed a management information system to secure, transfer, and catalog relevant information for ecological restoration. The FPCC leadership was also aware of the need to invest in improving the social processes involved in information sharing, which led to the motivation for the study. Empirical evidence from the research supports that perceived material risk influenced trust, perceived individual risk, and willingness to information share. The survey findings indicate that when a respondent perceives a high level of risk, trust and information sharing are diminished; the survey findings are further corroborated by participant interviews. The qualitative evidence also gave reason to believe that participants conceived of risk as both a threat to the park resource they manage (ecological) as well as a threat to their professional development (individual). Results indicate that social factors impact intra-organizational information sharing in the context of park management for ecological restoration. The study supports the need for agencies to invest in both social and technical infrastructures when embarking on ecological restoration projects.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact gbates@sagamorepub.com for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.