ABSTRACT

Agricultural producers and environmentalists have a mutual interest in maintaining healthy water resources; yet communication and collaboration on sustainability measures can be impeded by perceptions of incompatible water ethics. Here we apply the co-orientation model to qualitatively and quantitatively compare cross-group perspectives and composite maps of stakeholders’ mental models to understand how each group thinks about water challenges and each other. Results suggest that experiential differences yield seemingly incompatible perceptions of producers’ part in the degradation of regional water supplies. While sampled producers’ operational-level perspectives allow them a first-hand view of individual stewardship practices, sampled environmentalists’ macro-level perspectives highlight the environmental conditions that result from the agricultural industry as a whole. When collective agricultural impact does not reflect individual stewardship efforts, producers and environmentalists can have strikingly different perceptions of the problem – a potential barrier to cross-group communication. Research findings suggest frames, topics, and word choices that can help communicators bridge the cognitive divide between stakeholder groups.

摘要

农业生产者和环保主义者在维护健康的水资源方面有着共同的利益。然而，对于不可持续的水伦理的看法可能会阻碍就可持续性措施的沟通与合作。在这里，我们使用共同导向模型定性和定量地比较跨群体的观点和利益相关者心理模型的综合图，以了解每个群体如何看待水资源挑战以及彼此之间的关系。结果表明，经验差异似乎对区域供水退化中的生产者角色产生了不相容的看法。尽管抽样生产者的操作水平观点使他们对个人管理实践有第一手的了解，抽样调查的环保主义者的宏观观点突出了整个农业产业所产生的环境条件。当集体农业影响不能反映出个人的管理努力时，生产者和环保主义者可能对问题有截然不同的看法，这是跨群体交流的潜在障碍。研究发现提出了框架，主题和单词选择，可以帮助传播者弥合利益相关者群体之间的认知鸿沟。