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Knowledge that Acts: Evaluating the Outcomes of a Knowledge Brokering Intervention in Western Australia’s Ningaloo Region

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Abstract

Knowledge exchange involves a suite of strategies used to bridge the divides between research, policy and practice. The literature is increasingly focused on the notion that knowledge generated by research is more useful when there is significant interaction and knowledge sharing between researchers and research recipients (i.e., stakeholders). This is exemplified by increasing calls for the use of knowledge brokers to facilitate interaction and flow of information between scientists and stakeholder groups, and the integration of scientific and local knowledge. However, most of the environmental management literature focuses on explicit forms of knowledge, leaving unmeasured the tacit relational and reflective forms of knowledge that lead people to change their behaviour. In addition, despite the high transaction costs of knowledge brokering and related stakeholder engagement, there is little research on its effectiveness. We apply Park’s Manag Learn 30(2), 141–157 (1999); Knowledge and Participatory Research, London: SAGE Publications (2006) tri-partite knowledge typology as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of knowledge brokering in the context of a large multi-agency research programme in Australia’s Ningaloo coastal region, and for testing the assumption that higher levels of interaction between scientists and stakeholders lead to improved knowledge exchange. While the knowledge brokering intervention substantively increased relational networks between scientists and stakeholders, it did not generate anticipated increases in stakeholder knowledge or research application, indicating that more prolonged stakeholder engagement was required, and/or that there was a flaw in the assumptions underpinning our conceptual framework.

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Notes

  1. The Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster involved researchers from the CSIRO, Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre and a range of Australian Universities.

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Author notes

  1. Kelly Chapman

    Present address: Department of Geography, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5S5, Canada

  2. Tod Jones

    Present address: Department of Planning and Geography, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

  3. Pascal Scherrer

    Present address: School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia

  4. Geoff Syme

    Present address: 12 Virginia Court, Sandy Bay, TAS, 7005, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia

    Kelly Chapman, Pierre Horwitz & Pascal Scherrer

  2. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Underwood Ave, Floreat, WA, 6014, Australia

    Fabio Boschetti

  3. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, TAS, 7004, Australia

    Elizabeth Fulton

  4. Geography, School of Built Environment, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

    Tod Jones

  5. Centre for Planning, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia

    Geoff Syme

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  1. Kelly Chapman
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Correspondence to Kelly Chapman.

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Chapman, K., Boschetti, F., Fulton, E. et al. Knowledge that Acts: Evaluating the Outcomes of a Knowledge Brokering Intervention in Western Australia’s Ningaloo Region. Environmental Management 60, 896–907 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0917-1

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