Improving the Effectiveness of Collaborative Governance Regimes: Lessons from Watershed Partnerships
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
While it has become more commonplace as an environmental management strategy, few empirical studies have evaluated the environmental performance of collaborative governance regimes. Using watershed management as an example, this study tests the effectiveness of a collection of collaboration components included in the Integrative Collaborative Governance Regime framework for achieving environmental improvement goals using the EPA’s watershed-based approach. Coupling survey measures of collaboration dynamics with empirical assessments of environmental performance, this research offers evidence on the importance of specific collaborative elements and provides public managers with guidance to improve performance and achieve goals. Correlation analyses revealed the importance of monetary and technical resources to watershed partnerships’ environmental performance, validating previous literary assumptions. This study also uncovered an incongruence between participants’ acceptance of assigned roles and responsibilities within the watershed partnership and achievement of watershed improvement goals. This suggests that it is not enough to get the right people to the table—they must also be assigned the right roles.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Nonpoint Source Monitoring Program for their participation and assistance in this study. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge several people who assisted me in the development of this paper. I would like to thank Dr. Tomas Koontz for his detailed feedback on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as his continued mentorship. I would also like to thank Dr. Nicole Darnall for her help with the initial research design of this study and her unwavering support throughout the process; Dr. Christopher Prentice for serving as a sounding board to test the validity of my results and his assistance writing up an earlier rendition of the findings; and Dr. Mark Imperial for his suggestions to improve the description of the methodology used in this study. Finally, I wish to thank Stephanie Crowe and Michael Biddle Sr. for their editorial review of this manuscript.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 7, 2016
Accepted: Mar 8, 2017
Published online: Jun 21, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 21, 2017
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