1.2.6 Perceived control and influence over decision-making of NBS

Version 4.1 by Hyunji Cho on 2022/04/22 10:58

1.2.6 Perceived control and influence over decision-making

Social challenge/ impact linked to:
Social 
Level of importance

1 - High Importance / must have

Description

Perceived control is the belief in our ability to successfully influence the environment, and it plays a large role in how people actually interact with their environment (Wang et al. 2021). Psychologically, there are benefits to being able to exert control on one's environment and so individuals are biased towards behaviours that give them an enhanced perception of control (Wang et al. 2021). However, evidence suggests that when multiple people all try to exert control this can lead to sustainable outcomes being hampered (Wamsler et al. 2020) and as such citizen control must be allocated in a structured, targeted way to balance involvement of 6+1 groups with effective governance. 

Another study which measures participation in relation to disaster risk management, finds that the symbolic meaning of participation is more important than actual participation for satisfaction scores (Kweit & Kweit, 2007).

Scale as linked to D2.2 framework
  • City
  • Neighborhood 
  • Project Area
Data source and input type
  • Survey
Connection with SDGs
  • Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Required Data
  • Survey questions:
    • On a scale of 1-5, how much control do you feel you have had over the NBS solutions being implemented?
Expected Outputs
  • 1 represents no control at all, 5 represents complete control. 
Calculation methods
  • Survey results
Level of expertise required
  • Basic
Links and references
  • Wang, K.S., Yang, Y.Y. and Delgado, M.R., 2021. How perception of control shapes decision making. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 41, pp.85-91.
  • Wamsler, C., Alkan-Olsson, J., Björn, H., Falck, H., Hanson, H., Oskarsson, T., Simonsson, E. and Zelmerlow, F., 2020. Beyond participation: when citizen engagement leads to undesirable outcomes for nature-based solutions and climate change adaptation. Climatic Change, 158(2), pp.235-254.
  • Kwei, M.G. and Kweit, R.W. 2007. Participation, Perception of Participation, and Citizen Support. American Politics Research, 35(3), pp. 407-425.

Revisions

VersionNameDateChanges made
0.1Emily (EcoWise)16/02/2022Factsheet created