The relationship of stakeholders’ social identities and wildlife value orientations with attitudes toward red deer management

Abstract

ABSTRACT It has been recommended that wildlife management should be tailored to either wildlife value orientations (WVOs) or social identities (SIs) because both can influence stakeholders’ attitudes. However, a comparison of associations of WVOs and SIs with attitudes of stakeholders is lacking in the literature. We examined WVOs and attitudes toward red deer management among 834 individuals, encompassing foresters, hunting tenants, and conservationists (presumed to have strong SIs), as well as citizens, councilors, and forest owners (presumed to have weak SIs). Foresters’ and hunting tenants’ attitudes did not differ, despite the presence of different WVOs among each group, whereas conservationists’ attitudes partly and citizens,’ councilors’ and forest owners’ attitudes were strongly associated with different WVOs. Those with strong SIs should be addressed in terms of self-concepts and group processes. We recommend qualitative research on the SIs of stakeholders and quantitative research on the linkages of SIs and other social-psychological concepts.