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Applying Service-Dominant Logic to Peer-to-Peer Experiences Between Master Forest Owner Volunteers and Woodland Owners in New York State

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Abstract

Peer learning programs in forestry are a valuable resource for woodland owners, yet many forestry outreach programs in the U.S. and Europe are underutilized. Recent literature has suggested that current models peer learning and outreach programs could benefit from adopting a service-dominant logic, which centers on value creation through exchange, such as trusted peer relationships. This study employs a service dominant logic approach to examine the peer-to-peer experience between woodland owners and Master Forest Owner (MFO) Volunteers, a peer learning program offered through Cooperative Extension in New York State. A quantitative survey was administered to woodland owners that previously had a visit with a peer volunteer in the last ten years. Additionally, this study examined whether or not “peerness,” or a shared sense of similar practical tasks, contributed to the peer learning experience and any decisions woodland owners made after a visit with an MFO. The results from this study support a service-dominant logic approach to future marketing and outreach campaigns to draw more woodland owners to the program. Furthermore, we found that the co-creative value and trust produced during the peer-to-peer learning experience via the service-dominant lens overrides any potential differences among peer volunteers and woodland owners, in terms of perceived “peerness.”

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Notes

  1. Cooperative Extension, which is the outreach branch of land-grant universities in the United States (Broussard and Bliss 2007), provides master volunteer training on a variety of natural resource topics including gardening (Kirsch & VanDerZanden, 2002), watershed management (Posthumus et al. 2013), forestry (Kueper et al. 2014), and naturalists (Bonneau et al. 2009). In forestry, master volunteer peer program models have been used within the Cooperative Extension system for over 30 years (Broussard Allred et al. 2011; Sagor et al. 2014). Similar Extension outreach and education programs have been established outside the U.S. as well (Catanzaro and Hamunen 2019).

  2. Berghäll and Roos (2019), Catanzaro and Hamunen (2019), and Staal Wästerlund (2019) are all chapters from the recent edited volume Services in Family Forestry, (Hujala et al. 2019).

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Funding

The funding was provided by Private gift.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Danielle L. Eiseman

  2. Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Shorna B. Allred & Peter J. Smallidge

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  1. Danielle L. Eiseman
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  2. Shorna B. Allred
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All authors contributed to the research and writing of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Danielle L. Eiseman.

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Peter Smallidge directs the Master Forest Owner Volunteer training program in New York State.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 9

Table 9 Evaluation of the MFO volunteer visit
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Appendix 2

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Table 10 Actions taken after the MFO visit
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Eiseman, D.L., Allred, S.B. & Smallidge, P.J. Applying Service-Dominant Logic to Peer-to-Peer Experiences Between Master Forest Owner Volunteers and Woodland Owners in New York State. Small-scale Forestry 21, 1–28 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-021-09485-6

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