Wicked Problems Research Articles

Transformative supply chain research: A new frontier for SCM scholars

AbstractThis special topic forum (STF) on Transformative Supply Chain Research introduces a new direction in logistics and supply chain research to guide scholars in addressing the wicked problems facing 21st century society. Supply chain professionals are increasingly addressing corporate social responsibility, changing expectations from customers, resource scarcity, a changing climate, civic and political unrest, to name but a few issues of our times. But scholars have only begun to address these issues from a transformative lens, in which we consider the role of logistics and supply chain management in creating well‐being outcomes for the benefit of society. This editorial presents a 5‐pronged research agenda to guide researchers, while highlighting the three articles in this STF that serve as exemplars of transformative supply chain research.

Sustainable Development as a Wicked Problem in Investment Arbitration

Abstract References to ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’ can be found in decisions of investment arbitration tribunals and submissions from disputing parties. By relying on the concept of ‘wicked problem’, this article highlights the failure to articulate any clear relevance of sustainable development in the adjudication of investment disputes and structural limitations imposed by investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS). It proceeds in four steps. First, the article defines wicked problems and their distinguishing properties. Second, it shows how tribunals have used sustainable development in a way that evidences these distinguishing properties. Third, in light of submissions from respondent States and claimants, the article shows that ISDS imposes structural limitations on narratives that relate to sustainability and sustainable development. Finally, it examines the discussions on sustainability under the umbrella of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group III and stresses the need for a political resolution outside ISDS proceedings.

Real-World Experiences in Higher Education: Contributing to the Developing a Systems Thinking Paradigm

Background: Systems thinking has been proposed as a means to address complex and wicked problems. Systems thinking involves moving beyond looking at an issue from a static perspective and seeing interrelationships between parts and wholes. Students will be better prepared to handle the complexity of the world if they develop a systems thinking paradigm. Yet, little research exists on how individuals develop a systems thinking paradigm. Purpose: This phenomenological research study focuses on “What real-world experiences contribute to developing a systems thinking paradigm?” Methodology/Approach: Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 11 faculty affiliated with the University of Florida School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Data were coded using Colaizzi's seven-step approach. Findings/Conclusions: The essence of the study was that real-world experiences contribute to developing a systems thinking paradigm. Fieldwork, laboratory, and research experience develop the knowledge needed to understand the concept of complexity. Immersive academic experiences create opportunities for people to interact with others who have varying perspectives. Nonacademic work in the real world gives people a holistic view of the system. Implications: It is recommended that faculty focus on incorporating real-world experiences into their pedagogy and obtain support to create these opportunities.

Case-study: A wicked way to address family violence in a regional setting in Western Australia.

Communication tools have long been used to address complex social policy problems, known as wicked problems, in communities around the world. However, the challenge has remained, how do we measure the impact of social change with communication for development (C4D)? Evaluators recommend utilising evaluation tools that take a wider systems-based approach to assist in the evaluation of C4D projects. Health Communication Resources (HCR) Inc., a health promotion charity that supports C4D projects around the world, aimed to trial a tool to assist evaluation of a project addressing gender inequality, an underlying driver of family violence in the community. WickedLab's tool for systemic change was utilised to assist the evaluation of the complex adaptive system. The research team mapped the system that existed in Geraldton working towards addressing the wicked problem of gender inequality. Mapping the system highlighted how integral C4D actions were in maintaining and strengthening the system as it works together towards gender equality in the community. A systems-based approach can strengthen evaluation and demonstrates the role C4D projects play in addressing wicked problems in a defined location. SO WHAT?: WickedLab's tool for systemic change provides significant potential for the evaluation of other health promotion and communication for development projects.

Fostering systems thinking about socioscientific issues

ABSTRACT Systems thinking is essential for understanding wicked real-world problems and suggesting solutions. This is the case for addressing socioscientific issues (SSI) that involve inter-related personal, socio-political, cultural, scientific, economic and moral dimensions. It is challenging for teachers to support students in adopting and practising systems thinking when they explore SSI. In this study, we tested the extent to which causal loop diagramming (CLD) developed students’ systems thinking. We examined a 2-week teaching unit that used a computer-based CLD tool to foster students’ systems thinking about obesity in a first-year university general education course. Ninety-six students from a variety of majors/disciplines participated in this study. They worked in groups and engaged in reading news, proposing actions while creating causal loop diagrams about factors that contributed to obesity and approaches to tackle the issue. We analysed their pre-, mid-, and post-unit causal loop diagrams (3 × 26 groups) and weekly reflective memos. The data revealed their significant shift towards a systems approach of thinking. The reflective memos showed that the shift was afforded by cycles of construct–revise–use as they created the diagrams. The findings suggest the potential of causal loop diagramming to foster systems thinking in the sense-making and decision-making of SSI.

Embedding Mathematics in Socio-Scientific Games: The Mathematical in Grappling with Wicked Problems

This paper discusses the ways in which digitally enabled transformation in mathematics education could envisage a role for rationality in post-normal science and wicked problems. The scene is set firstly by reviewing the ways in which digital media have been designed and used in transformative mathematics education as a rationale for thinking about such media for wicked problem education. The problem is set in epistemological terms: can normal science approaches contribute to post-normal science? By considering the basic arguments regarding wicked problem education, I focus on the discussion of a specific constructionist digital tool called ‘ChoiCo: Choices with Consequences’, designed to embed mathematical ideas and facilitate mathematical reasoning, yet be about grappling with wicked problems. The final section discusses student discourse to set the scene for what such reasoning might look like in the context of grappling with wicked problems.

Digital twins on trial: Can they actually solve wicked societal problems and change the world for better?

Digital twins on trial: Can they actually solve wicked societal problems and change the world for better?

Process drama as a tool for participation in explorations of ‘wicked problems’ in upper secondary chemistry education

This study targets a special form of educational drama called process drama, as a potential means for enabling student engagement with wicked problems. The overarching aim is to explore how process drama may afford student agency in dealing with wicked problems in upper secondary chemistry education. It is a design-based study with two cycles of intervention in two schools. A process drama plan was designed to focus on the wicked problem of plastic pollution. The interventions were video- and audiotaped and thereafter transcribed. The data were analysed using a combination of qualitative content analysis and a sociocultural framework of the two dialectics agency|structure and margin|centre. The analysis resulted in three themes regarding how plastic pollution and plastic use was explored in the process drama. The students participated in a constant flow between margin and centre where different spaces for students’ agency was afforded. In brief, our main finding is that process drama enables students and teachers to participate in a variety of ways in the exploration of wicked problems, and talk about plastic pollution and plastic use, while drawing on knowledge and perspectives of science as well as values and societal and social science perspectives and knowledge.

Large language models for life cycle assessments: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

Because sustainability remains a wicked problem, more sophisticated tools need to be applied to identify better solutions in a more efficient manner and align with the 11th, 12th, and 13th sustainable development goals: sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. To ease the burdens of conducting sustainability studies, especially life cycle assessments (LCA), practitioners may consider integrating large language models (LLM) into LCAs. This emerging application may offer some advantages due to the capability of these models to generate and process text quickly and efficiently, decreasing the time it takes to complete an LCA and increasing the accessibility of LCAs. In this perspective, we assess the ability of LLMs to complete LCA tasks and encourage the LCA community to study the potential strategies for enhancing the integration of LLMs in LCA methodologies and collaborate to develop standards for responsible use. Because of these advantages, LLMs show promise for life cycle inventory data collection and interpreting the life cycle impact assessment. Challenges arise primarily from the inclusion of hallucinations in the content generated by the LLM, which can be mitigated if the LCA practitioner uses prompt engineering techniques. Moreover, the risk that models cannot take responsibility for generated content can be ameliorated by having the LCA practitioner carefully review the LLM output and take responsibility for decisions made based on the generated content. So long as appropriate steps are taken to overcome the challenges and risks of using of LLMs for LCA, the opportunities presented by integrating the generative AI models can streamline the LCA process and result in significant benefits for the LCA practitioner.

Towards a transformative climate change education: questions and pedagogies

This paper approaches climate change as a superordinate concern that should guide a holistic transformation of formal schooling towards integration and sustainability. The call for climate change education (CCE) has been amplified by international organizations and youth protestors alike, united by a shared concern for our planet. By combining CCE with principles of transformative learning (TL), the paper outlines a framework for transformative climate change education (TCCE). If climate change fits the description of a super wicked problem, this is also true of TCCE, which requires the simultaneous transformation of curricula, pedagogies, and assessment systems. The paper argues that the implementation of TCCE faces significant challenges because it disputes the underlying values of our transmissive educational systems. Those challenges are formulated here as a series of questions, which are followed by a discussion of sustainability pedagogies that help learners build capacity for understanding and acting on climate change.

Return to Reality: Speculative Design of Interaction Ritual Chains and Exploration of Alone Together

“Alone together” is an ever-changing “wicked problem.” In this research and practice, the author tries to combine experience design, referring to the theory of “interaction ritual chain theory,” and creatively add interactive experience to discursive works, so that the audience can think between the real and the virtual.

Justice and Sustainability Tensions in Agriculture: Wicked Problems in the Case of Dutch Manure Policy

ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been tension between farmers and the Dutch government regarding sustainability policy (in the efforts to reduce the harm caused by manure surplus) and how implementing this policy affects farmers (in the form of justice concerns). We interviewed Dutch farmers to uncover how they view manure policy. We identified four types of injustices: procedural, contributive, distributive, and intergenerational. We propose that a multi-tiered approach is required to overcome these kinds of ‘wicked problems’, avoid paralysis from lack of action, and overcome the flaws by overestimating the effectiveness of top-down policy.

Independent Long COVID Journalism as a Lens for Critical Information Literacy: Conversations with The Sick Times Founders Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles W. Griffis

Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of climate change illuminate how difficult it can be to make sense of information about wicked problems—that is, issues that are highly complex and have no simple or complete solutions (Rittel & Webber, 1973). One approach to grappling with wicked problems is to consider the information practices that different people, communities, or professions use to make sense of those issues. In this Perspectives piece, I explore possible ways to practice and teach about critical information literacy by looking to the views, experiences, and professional practices of two independent journalists who report on an urgent but still under-reported wicked problem: Long COVID. Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles W. Griffis are the co-founders of the website The Sick Times, which is dedicated to reporting on Long COVID and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Following highlights from their interviews with me about their work, I consider potential implications of these journalists’ experiences for practicing and teaching critical information literacy.

Growing Old, but Paying Back: Understanding How Age Influences Corporate Social Innovation Depth and Breadth of Multinationals in Weak Institutional Contexts

Corporate Social Innovation (CSI) has emerged as a research priority for multinational enterprises (MNEs) due to the increasing popularity of sustainable development solutions addressing wicked problems in the 21st century. Although most studies on CSI have focused on data from developed economies, emphasising the younger generation's forward-looking, sustainable, and environmentally friendly attitudes, there exists a gap in our understanding of the attitude of the older generation towards CSI practices of MNEs operating in emerging economies. The UN's SDG 3 advocates for the well-being of all at all ages. Despite this, healthcare outcomes in global-south countries fall below standard. Therefore, we conducted an in-depth critical analysis of textual data concerning CSI practices of 115 healthcare MNEs operating in 13 emerging economies. We quantified the number of CSI practices in their annual reports and operationalised the dependent variable using an entropy index to calculate the density and percentage score of CSI. Drawing on Upper Echelons, our analysis revealed that older CEOs are likelier to promote, initiate, and implement CSI in greater depth and breadth. These findings present a compelling case supporting the argument that CEOs and board members tend to contribute more to society as they age. We offer empirical evidence supporting the strengthening roles of senior board members and female board chairs. Our findings complement existing CSI studies from developed countries and illustrate how CEO and board characteristics influence the depth and breadth of CSI in emerging economies.

Digital inclusion and the internet of things: Convenience and the choice‐compulsion continuum

AbstractThe internet of things (IoT) holds forth much promise and peril. IoT promises to increase efficiencies needed to solve wicked problems like climate change. However, IoT may also reinforce existing problems such as social inequalities long associated with the digital divide. Research about the digital divide has evolved greatly over the past few decades and this article examines recent trends in the United States (U.S.) with particular attention on digital inclusivity associated with three digital divide pillars—digital infrastructure, digital devices, and digital literacy. More specifically, recent technological and policy trajectories as they relate to convenience and to a choice versus compulsion continuum (the “three C's”), are interrogated in terms of emergent U.S. IoT policy. The ways in which advanced industrial capitalism is served by the IoT, and its cousin the Industry IoT, provide further food for thought as the world plunges forward with convenient devices that have potential for solving pressing problems such as social inequality and climate change, yet at the same time may exacerbate such problems without thoughtful policy development around all three pillars of digital inclusion.

A systems thinking approach to international business education

Purpose International business (IB) education typically focuses on the multinational enterprise (MNE) and how it navigates varying institutional setups for its own benefit. This reductionist and MNE-centric approach underplays the influence these firms have on the societal and environmental fabric of the geographies they are operating in. This paper aims to propose integrating systems thinking into IB education to address this shortcoming with the intention to setup IB education to engage with wicked grand challenges. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper offers an approach for integrating complexity, criticality and diversity into IB education through teaching systems thinking capabilities. Findings Integrating systems thinking into IB education allows for a more realistic appreciation of IB’s contribution to addressing grand challenges. The authors propose a systems thinking perspective to IB education and offer how systems thinking capabilities could be taught in IB. Originality/value Grand challenges are characterised by wicked problems. Addressing them requires a multilevel, cross-disciplinary approach that takes into consideration the inter- and intradependencies of all actors within a system.

Reimagining writing: Integrating wicked problems into secondary writing instruction through a research practice partnership

Reimagining writing: Integrating wicked problems into secondary writing instruction through a research practice partnership

Leadership, regulatory approaches and policy to re-orientate health services towards health promotion.

Globally, oral conditions remain the most prevalent of all non-communicable diseases. Among the broad range of target goals and recommendations for action by the World Health Organization's Global Oral Health Strategy, we call out three specific actions that provide an enabling environment to improve population oral health including: (i) enabling population oral health reform through leadership, (ii) enabling innovative oral health workforce models, (iii) enabling universal health coverage that includes oral health. The aim of the article is to outline how leadership, regulatory approaches and policy in Australia can strengthen health promotion practice and can inform global efforts to tackle the complex wicked problems associated with population oral health. Examples in Australia show that effective leadership, regulatory approaches and well-designed policies can address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and are made possible through public health advocacy, collaboration and research.

Cascading risks in a social-ecological system: the South China Sea disputes

The situation in the South China Sea (SCS) is the epitome of a wicked problem where issues cross state boundaries and domains, and where stakeholders range from fishers to governments to shipping industries. This article frames the SCS as a social-ecological system that is composed of biological and social subsystems. It explains how, for over 70 years, global political and economic structures have conditioned state responses – territorialisation, militarisation, extraction, and exploitation – that, in turn, have led to cascading risks for further environmental degradation and conflict at different levels of community. This article uses the grammar of riskification, rather than securitisation, because the crisis in the SCS requires governance rather than military action. Any code of conduct needs to emphasise stewardship rather than ownership and to be climate-centred rather than threat-centred, in order to address the very real risk of the collapsing biological subsystem upon which the social subsystem ultimately depends.

The Importance of Ontological Commitment and Linguistics in Relation to the Elucidation of Design Requirements

One of the design process’s earliest and most critical stages is establishing and determining requirements. Design requirements are often expressed through language, whether in written documents, diagrams, or verbal discussions in terms of the client’s “wants” and “needs” or balancing what they can “afford.” Designers use of quotes around “wants,” “needs,” and “afford” signals ambiguity or doubt in the meaning of the terms. The language used during early discourse is crucial for expressing and translating theseambiguous terms into specific unambiguous design requirements, which significantly shape and constrain possible solutions. In philosophy, this concept is known as ontological commitment. Embedded language in requirements documents, expressed through constraints, objectives, and functions, establish the ontological commitment to a specific solution space. Prior marine design research has focused on the wicked problem of requirements elucidation, with the goal visualizing potential solutions derived from language, and a more direct link to ontological commitment was developed by Andrews in the concept of style Duchateau (2016) van Ores (2011) Andrews (2012). However, the role and impact of linguistics in translating and interpreting uncertain or ambiguous terms into specific design requirements has been largely overlooked. This paper presents modern direct examples of ontological commitment from requirements development for the Littoral Combat Ship.