The challenge of balanced policy and law for socially responsible water storage management
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate what represents “balanced” policy. Drought conditions create pressures on farmers to store excessive water unfairly, creating unsafe structures in flood, which creates a dual-extreme risk with potentially catastrophic social consequences downstream. “Balanced” policy for socially responsible water storage management that accounts for farmers’ responses to regulations is a key to minimising this risk.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigated the problem through application of Oliver’s (1991) strategic response typology to a survey of 202 agribusiness managers in four different institutional environments.
Findings
Evidence of diverse policy in Australia and results of 202 farmers surveyed suggest that “unbalanced” policy that does not infringe on farmer decision-making power will engender lower resistance, but in a “best balance” environment, stronger resistance is evident.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates a need to consider more reflexive regulatory mixes for socially responsible water-storage behaviour by agribusiness.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The paper contributes a detailed investigation of agricultural business manager’s perceptions which forms part of a larger research program funded by the Australian Research Council to whom the authors express gratitude. Thank you also to Kirsty Willis and her team for data collection.
Citation
Tingey-Holyoak, J. and Pisaniello, J.D. (2015), "The challenge of balanced policy and law for socially responsible water storage management", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 764-779. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-07-2014-0093
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited