Forward-Looking Impact Assessment – An Interdisciplinary Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Both new and established ventures are under increasing pressure to consider how their current actions impact our future world. Whilst many practitioners are paying greater attention to the future impact of their activities, the majority of impact assessment research focuses on the retrospective measurement of impact, with only limited insights on how impact assessment is used as a tool to forecast or predict the intended impact of organisational action. This study aims to overcome this gap by exploring forward-looking approaches to impact assessment. We conduct an interdisciplinary systematic review of the impact assessment literature to answer the question: “How and why do organisations incorporate forward-looking, future-oriented approaches to impact assessment?”. In our findings we elaborate on the common research themes, challenges, and gaps in understandings of forward-looking impact assessment. We develop an organising framework to show how research on forward-looking impact assessments has explored various antecedents, processes and outcomes. Based on our review, we put forward a research agenda to provoke further inquiry on forward-looking, future-oriented approaches to impact assessments related to four research themes: uncertainty, values and assumptions, stakeholder cooperation, and learning. Our study contributes to the impact assessment literature by providing an overview of how the current literature comprehends forward-looking approaches, and providing insights on how the field can develop a more holistic view of temporality in impact assessment.