Wicked Problems Research Articles

Wicked problem of improving fishery livelihoods through capacity building

Development programs can train fishers in value-adding but factors influencing who is likely to benefit are not well understood. Small-scale fishers worldwide often fall short increasing the value of their catch and wellbeing benefits from their harvests. Here, we sought to improve technical capacity of sea cucumber fishers in postharvest processing and examine intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape long-term livelihood impacts. Manuals, videos and village-based workshops were used to train hundreds of fishers in 29 villages across seven island regions in Fiji. Our linear mixed models found that trained fishers spent more time processing their catch and were more likely to report increased sale prices. However, the fishery was in decline and so fishers’ weekly incomes did not improve overall. The capacity building led to gender-transformative outcomes by motivating women to increase catch rates and it improved their weekly fishery income. Perceived changes in trading prices and economic dependence on the fishery varied regionally, implying inconsistent trader behaviour. Our study reveals that improving fishery livelihoods can be a “wicked problem” involving a complexity of external factors that hinder livelihood impacts. Capacity-building of fishers was insufficient on its own to markedly improve wellbeing. Income also depended on the fishery stocks, equitable behaviour of traders and access of fishers to raw materials for postharvest processing. Development programs should consider a holistic approach through partnerships with institutions to improve the management of natural resources, value chains and technical capacity of fishers.

Mundane dynamics: Understanding collaborative governance approaches to ‘big’ problems through studying ‘small’ practices

Collaborative approaches to governance, policymaking, and administration are believed to provide means of adequately handling wicked problems. Simultaneously, many scholars have acknowledged the difficulty of collaboration in practice. In this article, we argue that understanding the ‘small’ practices of collaborative governance and actor-positioning processes illuminates why collaborative governance is such a challenging response to wicked problems. Instead of focussing on ‘big’ collaborative approaches to ‘big’ wicked problems, zooming in on mundane dynamics demonstrates the continuous work that governing and positioning processes require, exposing the provisional nature of elements that have been argued to be vital, such as mutual trust, reciprocity, long-term commitment, authority, or autonomy. Lastly, the mundane uncovers the importance of the material, spatial, and temporal organisation of actor-positioning processes and the potential of language to inhibit or enable collaborative governance. The article ends with a reflection on how analyses of mundane dynamics may help scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and citizens to understand their own processes of engagements in collaborative endeavours and possibly temper expectations.

A typology of urban knowledge sharing: from a systematic literature review to an integrated model

Abstract This paper provides insight into how the conceptualization of urban knowledge sharing has developed. Based on a structured review and categorization of the literature, we identify three forms of knowledge sharing in and between cities that are distinctly different: knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange, and knowledge co-creation. We find that the three forms have different boosts and barriers, whereby the complexities of knowledge sharing and hence the capacities required of the actors are lowest for knowledge transfer and highest for knowledge co-creation. We would therefore like to qualify the recent emphasis given in literature to co-creation; with its complexities and required capacities, it is not to be considered a panacea for solving all urban problems. We propose a model within which knowledge transfer and exchange are more suitable for less wicked problems and may sometimes fruitfully reduce complexities.

Identifying leverage points for sustainable nutrient policy integration in Canada.

Addressing the 'wicked problem' of nutrient pollution requires coordinated policies spanning across diverse sectors and environmental systems. Using a case study of Canadian legislation, we apply semantic network analysis to identify thematic links across an inventory of 245 nutrient-related policies. Our analysis identifies twelve topics with unique types of connections across multiple facets of Canadian society. 'Hub' policies include broad environmental protection, land use planning, and climate-related legislation with close ties to multiple other topics. 'Bridge' policies create connections among otherwise disconnected topics in the network, representing opportunities to inform new policy proposals. Some legislation, such as food processing regulations, indirectly relates to nutrient use but could inform policy integration towards more coordinated and holistic nutrient management across the food system. A computational text network approach can be useful for addressing challenges in complex policy analysis, including by identifying unique entry points to guide more cross-cutting nutrient policy development.

Overcome imposter syndrome: Contribute to working groups and build strong networks

Scientific working groups bring together experts from different disciplines and perspectives to tackle the “wicked problems” facing natural systems and society. Yet participants can feel overwhelmed or inadequate in groups within academic environments, which tends to be most acute at early career stages and in people from systematically marginalized backgrounds. Such feelings can block innovation that would otherwise arise from gaining the full spectrum of unique perspectives, knowledge and skills from a group. Drawing on personal experiences and relevant literature, we identify ten contribution strategies, ranging from generating ideas, analyzing data, and producing visuals to supporting facilitation. Next, we share approaches for an inclusive and supportive process, considering the roles of both participants and leads. Generating the most productive and relevant outcomes from working groups requires engaging the full team in a constructive and supportive environment. We advocate that adopting inclusive approaches that respect the diversity of personality types and perspectives will lead to more innovative solutions to achieve conservation and sustainability goals.

Emergency management and sustainability: Understanding the link between disaster and citizen participation for sustainability efforts and climate change.

The goal of this study is to examine how disaster experience influences local government views on citizen participation in addressing issues of sustainability, such as climate change. This study considers concepts such as wicked problems, the social order, the environment, economic development, and citizen participation where sustainability can be considered a solution to help manage and solve the challenges of disaster, like climate change. The data are taken from a 2015 International City/County Management Association national survey that examines the link between disaster and sustainability. The results show that more than half of the respondents do not view public participation as having much of an impact on sustainability; however, we can expect public participation to increasingly impact sustainability efforts as communities experience more disaster. This suggests that emergency management needs to understand public pressures regarding wicked problems, such as climate change, to collectively address the global influence of environmental, economic, and social issues that have local effects on their communities.

A call to action: Re-activating the latent human factor for achieving the UN SDGs-cultivating courageous partnerships and compassionate human systems.

We propose scaling up therapeutic principles for collective impact and nurturing therapist commitment beyond the therapy room, to activate and sustain compassion-in-action at the community system level. The SDGs represent the strength of collective human concern and action coming together. At the half-way point, we are falling dangerously short of our targets, requiring an urgent response. The tenet of this paper is that the weakest link in our journey is not technical capability or finances, or even the impact of multiple intersecting crises, but our ability to collaborate for sustained action-it is the human factor-hence, we need a psychologically informed response. Notably, least 'visible' is SDG17, the umbrella goal designated means of implementation, through partnership. Partnership has been treated as a transactional element of SDG projects, rather than the vital heartbeat connecting daily actions to the 2030 vision. Partnership is about investing in relationships and a commitment to working together with a common purpose-the bailiwick of psychological therapists. We propose an architecture to support the development of courageous partnerships and compassionate systems. Compassion uniquely potentiates global action on wicked problems.

Reframing the wicked problem of pre-harvest burning: A case study of Thailand's sugarcane

Pre-harvest sugarcane burning persists in many countries though there are policies prohibiting the practice. As problems related to sugarcane harvesting are complex, a thorough understanding of the problems for policy formulation is required. The objective of this study was to reanalyze or reframe problems of sugarcane harvesting and pre-harvest sugarcane burning. Concepts of wicked problems, practical reasoning and policy reframing were applied. The study used a participatory modeling approach to illustrate the case of Thailand. Wickedness was shown by complexity and uncertainties of factors intertwining with values related to adoption of harvesting methods; green mechanical, green manual and burnt manual. As timeliness of harvest was the top priority, the burnt method was considered more efficient. It was easier, faster, cheaper and more suitable under unfavorable circumstances for the green methods. The policy to reduce burnt-harvested sugarcane was not so effective and also led to the undesired ‘green but unclean’ method. To frame harvesting problems based on emissions of fine particulates (PM2.5) from sugarcane burning was not a good choice. Incomplete problem sense-making and poor problem frame were indicated. Most farmers were unable to associate sugarcane burning with environmental problems of PM2.5 (and also global warming/climate change) and livelihood impacts. Nevertheless, a larger concern over climate variations was perceived by a majority of farmers. Farmers who adapted relied primarily on green harvesting and the use of residues as trash blankets. Through policy reframing, inefficient green harvesting was seen as a better frame. The new frame enabled farmers linking agricultural practices to sustainability of environment, productivity and livelihoods in the context of climate change. Using participatory modeling for reframing policy problems in general and wicked problems in particular was shown to be powerful and contributing to originality.

Sacred Groves and Wicked Problems

Sacred Groves and Wicked Problems

Food waste tectonics: Points of friction between policy push and practice pull in council-led household-food-waste interventions in Australia

Household food waste is increasingly recognised as a global wicked problem for its greenhouse gas emissions, economic damage, and resource loss. Although targeted in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, countries can only respond according to their capacity. For Australia, national policy has put the pressure on states and territories to divert food waste away from landfill into a nascent circular economy. For councils, this increasingly means implementing a FOGO (Food Organics/Garden Organics) kerbside collection. Despite funding and infrastructure development, many are resisting. Framed by the tenets of policy diffusion, this paper presents the results of a nationwide exploratory survey aimed at identifying how and why council-based waste services staff resist, emulate or lead FOGO implementation. By assessing participants current kerbside systems and their attitudes towards household food waste management, the survey found costs, contamination, and capacity and were key concerns. However, responses to these varied considerably despite similarities of situation, often relating more to collaborative attitudes across waste services, council, and councillors. This paper recognises that a conducive environment for change is urgently needed for Australia to achieve organics diversion targets and shift household food towards a circular economy. It provides a starting point for further research into the complex and nuanced dynamics between council waste services and FOGO implementations, from external drivers and council paradigms to individual attitudes and perceptions.

How deep is your lab? Understanding the possibilities and limitations of living labs in tourism

Living labs are increasingly popular in discussions on co-creation, destination design and education, particularly with regards to their potential to deal with so called ‘wicked’ problems. However, the living labs concept is ill-defined and critical practitioners warn that this undermines the potential of living labs and may lead to inflated expectations. This article seeks to provide more clarity on living labs, the kind of work that can take place in them and the depth of insights that they can deliver. We provide a taxonomy of different lab environments and the different purposes that they can serve within a tourism context. Based on experiences in two urban tourism living labs in the Netherlands, it is argued that living labs are not suited for solving wicked problems per se, and that greater modesty is required when discussing their potential. The paper concludes with a critical discussion and avenues for further research on the possibilities and limitations of using living labs to facilitate innovation in research and higher education practice.

Government Policy in Tackling Illegal Foreign Worker Issues in Indonesia: Complexity, Uncertainty and Divergence

The influx of illegal foreign workers to Indonesia is one of the fundamental issues which has become serious concern for the Indonesian government. Debates on the international migration phenomena ccontribute to an increasing number of the illegal foreign workers issue. This qualitative research analyses the foreign worker issues in Indonesia by the document analysis from government policies from 2015 to 2018, organizational reports, and journal articles. This study examines the wickedness of the illegal foreign workers issues in Indonesia based on the Brian Head's wicked problem concept. This study discusses the characteristics of wicked problems: complexity, uncertainty, and divergence in illegal foreign worker issues in Indonesia. The study finds the illegal foreign worker issues in Indonesia are only resolved by the law enforcement taskforce among agencies in relation to collaboration, cooperation and national security. A conceptual framework is proposed the immigration enforcement team is urged to improve the use of technology, citizen participation, interagency partnership, equipment, vehicles and boats. Further research extends the involvement of citizen’s participation and the use of technology in enforcing the immigration law and handling the illegal foreign workers.

Governance without we. Wicked problems and collaborative governance

In this introductory article to our PPA special issue we argue that the relation between wicked problems and collaborative governance is fraught with difficulties. Doing so, we take four steps: we maintain that wicked problems are better understood as wicked actor constellations; we delve into the collaborative governance-approach and posit that it is mainly concerned with wicked problems; we then argue that collaborative governance might not be the most feasible response to wicked problems; and after that we argue that an assumption instead of actors being engaged in actor positioning processes allows a clearer understanding of policy processes in wicked actor constellations. Following this discussion, we introduce the articles featured in the special issue and discuss implications for research.

How wicked is modern slavery: a consideration of Raškovic’s “taming wicked problems”

Purpose This is a response to “Taming wicked problems”, a paper recently published in CPOIB in which modern slavery is framed as a wicked problem. The purpose of this study is to convey the author’s appraisal of its contribution to policymaking regarding modern slavery in global supply chains. Design/methodology/approach The author engages in a discursive review of “Taming wicked problems”, taking inspiration from its perceived strengths and weaknesses to expand on the problem of modern slavery as a challenge to international business (IB) researchers. Findings “Taming wicked problems” is welcomed as a provocative contribution to modern slavery research in IB, although it is perceived to give too little critical attention to the problem of modern slavery itself. Research limitations/implications This is, by design, a subjective assessment of the treatment of modern slavery and policy from the perspective of an IB researcher who has previously studied the phenomenon without a wicked problem framing. Practical implications Modern slavery is a serious problem for IB scholars, as they have failed to extrapolate it from their analysis of international business strategy. This paper is intended to advance the disciplinary defence of vulnerable workers exploited to the ultimate benefit of MNEs. Social implications IB must engage critically with international business strategies that heighten the risk of human rights violations. The persistence of modern slavery disadvantages all persons in employment. Originality/value This paper seeks to better define the offense implicit in modern slavery so to inform critical IB research into its causes and deterrence.

Meeting the Challenges of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Holistic Systems Thinking and Applied Geospatial Ethics

The halfway point for the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was marked in 2023, as set forth in the 2030 Agenda. Geospatial technologies have proven indispensable in assessing and tracking fundamental components of each of the 17 SDGs, including climatological and ecological trends, and changes and humanitarian crises and socio-economic impacts. However, gaps remain in the capacity for geospatial and related digital technologies, like AI, to provide a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the complex and multi-factorial challenges delineated in the SDGs. Lack of progress toward these goals, and the immense implementation challenges that remain, call for inclusive and holistic approaches, coupled with transformative uses of digital technologies. This paper reviews transdisciplinary, holistic, and participatory approaches to address gaps in ethics and diversity in geospatial and related technologies and to meet the pressing need for bottom-up, community-driven initiatives. Small-scale, community-based initiatives are known to have a systemic and aggregate effect toward macro-economic and global environmental goals. Cybernetic systems thinking approaches are the conceptual framework investigated in this study, as these approaches suggest that a decentralized, polycentric system—for example, each community acting as one node in a larger, global system—has the resilience and capacity to create and sustain positive change, even if it is counter to top-down decisions and mechanisms. Thus, this paper will discuss how holistic systems thinking—societal, political, environmental, and economic choices considered in an interrelated context—may be central to building true resilience to climate change and creating sustainable development pathways. Traditional and Indigenous knowledge (IK) systems around the world hold holistic awareness of human-ecological interactions—practicable, reciprocal relationships developed over time as a cultural approach. This cultural holistic approach is also known as Systemic Literacy, which considers how systems function beyond “mechanical” aspects and include political, philosophical, psychological, emotional, relational, anthropological, and ecological dimensions. When Indigenous-led, these dimensions can be unified into participatory, community-centered conservation practices that support long-term human and environmental well-being. There is a growing recognition of the criticality of Indigenous leadership in sustainability practices, as well as that partnerships with Indigenous peoples and weaving knowledge systems, as a missing link to approaching global ecological crises. This review investigates the inequality in technological systems—the “digital divide” that further inhibits participation by communities and groups that retain knowledge of “place” and may offer the most transformative solutions. Following the review and synthesis, this study presents cybernetics as a bridge of understanding to Indigenous systems thinking. As non-Indigenous scholars, we hope that this study serves to foster informed, productive, and respectful dialogues so that the strength of diverse knowledges might offer whole-systems approaches to decision making that tackle wicked problems. Lastly, we discuss use cases of community-based processes and co-developed geospatial technologies, along with ethical considerations, as avenues toward enhancing equity and making advances in democratizing and decolonizing technology.

Navigating the Wicked Policy Problem: An In-Depth Analysis of Policy Dilemmas and Innovative Approaches for Effective Problem Solving

The UN established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address a variety of social, economic, and environmental issues in order to ensure a more equitable future for all. These issues are to be addressed through policy and various relevant programs. However, some policy problems are hardly fixed despite the fact that many public policies are ostensibly being developed to address them. Wicked problems keep on piling up. Policy issues such as road safety, corruption, poverty and inequality, unemployment, land disputes, environmental degradation, gender equality, and so on have drawn a growing number of policies in an effort to address them, but these issues are recognized as being essentially amorphous and stubborn, hence creating policy dilemmas. This article offers a greater grasp of the alternatives for fixing wicked problems. It considers policy networks, policy entrepreneurship, collaborative governance, data-driven decision-making, policy diffusion, decentralization, and strategic placement of street-level bureaucrats as key strategies for tackling complex policy issues. This article makes the case that an integrated policy package is best suited to address wicked policy issues. This implies that addressing wicked problems requires a multifaceted and adaptive approach, as no single problem-solving technique can consistently and reliably provide a wide-ranging result.

Wildlife Conservation on Private Land: A Social-Ecological Systems Study.

As human activity accelerates the global crisis facing wildlife populations, private land conservation provides an example of wildlife management challenges in social-ecological systems. This study reports on the research phase of 'WildTracker' - a co-created citizen science project, involving 160 landholders across three Tasmanian regions. This was a transdisciplinary collaboration between an environmental organisation, university researchers, and local landholders. Focusing on mammal and bird species, the project integrated diverse data types and technologies: social surveys, quantitative ecology, motion sensor cameras, acoustic recorders, and advanced machine-learning analytics. An iterative analytical methodology encompassed Pearson and point-biserial correlation for interrelationships, Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) for clustering, and Random Forest machine learning for variable importance and prediction. Taken together, these analyses revealed complex relationships between wildlife populations and a suite of ecological, socio-economic, and land management variables. Both site-scale habitat characteristics and landscape-scale vegetation patterns were useful predictors of mammal and bird activity, but these relationships were different for mammals and birds. Four focal mammal species showed variation in their response to ecological and land management drivers. Unexpectedly, threatened species, such as the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), favoured locations where habitat was substantially modified by human activities. The research provides actionable insights for landowners, and highlights the importance of 'messy,' ecologically heterogeneous, mixed agricultural landscapes for wildlife conservation. The identification of thresholds in habitat fragmentation reinforced the importance of collaboration across private landscapes. Participatory research models such as WildTracker can complement efforts to address the wicked problem of wildlife conservation in the Anthropocene.

Rural electrification in India: A wicked problem

AbstractDespite concerted efforts, several plans and policies of the government addressing rural electrification remained unrealized since India's independence. Although India attained near‐complete grid connectivity in 2018, the problem of inconsistent, unreliable and unaffordable electricity persists, expressly in remote and rural areas. This paper conceptualizes issues of rural electrification in India as a ‘Wicked Problem’ – a systems thinking approach used vastly for understanding complex and multidimensional aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The problem is characterized as a sub‐target of SDG 7 i.e. universal energy access. The stakeholders of rural electrification in India were approached ‐ their feedback was mapped in the power‐interest matrix. A causal loop diagram was prepared that helped in the identification of various themes through balancing and reinforcing loops. This study makes a methodological contribution to conceptual analysis prompting decision‐making through mental models over existing frameworks used for addressing rural electrification in India.

Integrating three theories of 21st-century capitalism

Purpose This study aims to help develop “business principles for stakeholder capitalism” in two steps. First, the study defines internal logic of three theories of capitalism and two variants within each theory. Second, it examines approaches to integration into modern democratic capitalism. Treating the three theories as substitutes identifies relative strengths and weaknesses; complementarity and partial overlap approaches to integration study the institutional settings within which stakeholder capitalism operates. Empirical outcomes reflect competition between market and stakeholder businesses for participants, with institutional conditions determining the scope of collective action. Design/methodology/approach The approach aligns three typologies in a unique conceptual arrangement defining the three theories of capitalism: forms of capitalism, potential failures of each form and associated types of goods. The first method examines the internal logic of each theory of capitalism. The second draws on traditional narrative review of references documenting each theory of capitalism and variants together with modern Marxist anti-capitalism. Findings Three typologies align uniquely with the theories of capitalism, each having two variants. Both variants of stakeholder capitalism are compatible with compassionate capitalism, constitutional government or polycentric governance but not with self-interest capitalism, dictatorship or Marxism. A theory of modern democratic capitalism allocates roles for private, club and social goods with empirically variable mixes occurring across countries. Competition among different types of enterprises provides an empirical test for comparative advantages of stakeholder capitalism. Future research should consider approaches for testing the proposed conceptual scheme in practice concerning capacity to deal with grand challenges, wicked problems and black swan events. Research limitations/implications Research approach is limited to logical examination of theories and literature documentation without direct empirical confirmation. The study does not address practical implications for managers and public officials or social implications concerning private incentives, stakeholder cooperation or collective action. Originality/value Originality lies in shifting terms of debate about stakeholder capitalism from advocacy of substitute theories to understanding of its relationship to market capitalism and collective action capitalism. Value lies in explaining desirability of theoretical integration of three types of capitalism into a comprehensive framework for modern democratic capitalism.

Exploring a geodesign approach for circular economy transition of cities and regions: Three European cases

Transitioning towards a circular built environment and turning waste into resources have become one of the new sustainability paradigms today. However, a circular transition can be considered a ‘wicked problem’. The multiple dimensions and scales of the circular transition and its substantial spatial implications fit well into the planning approach of Geodesign. The Horizon 2020 funded project “Resource Management in the periurban Areas - Going beyond Urban Metabolism (REPAiR)” implemented an innovative Geodesign approach. Moreover, it explored its capability to support spatial decision-making processes for the circular economy transition of the built environment within urban planning practices. This article aims to understand to what extent a process of Geodesign, which is conducted with the support of a digital tool and a Living Lab approach, can support the creation of localised circular economy strategies and foster the circular economy transition in cities and territories. The analysis explores and compares the results of three European cases -Amsterdam, Hamburg and Naples. It considers the kind of data input required to run the process in every phase, the stakeholders involved and their typology, the specific urban or territorial, planning and governance scales of analysis, and the final output definition after the Geodesign process implementation. The approach outputs constitute a decision support system for easing negotiations between local actors regarding the circularity strategies to implement. The findings reveal an intertwinement between different forms of knowledge included in the process, ranging from sustainability to governance and design, and the actors engaged in planning a circularity transition spatially. However, even using similar starting data, the local information and the starting conditions strongly influence the process and the types of strategies elaborated in each case.