INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES ON FIRE RESEARCH USE BY FIRE MANAGERS AND DECISION MAKERS IN THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND U.S. FOREST SERVICE

Author

• Vita Wright

Year of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Name

Forestry

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Society and Conservation

Department or School/College

W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

Committee Chair

Perry Brown

Commitee Members

Gerald Evans, Lloyd Queen, Alan Sillars, Alan Watson

Abstract

Federal interagency fire policy mandates that fire management plans and programs are based on a foundation of science and that science be transferred to managers in a timely manner. Ultimately, scientists and managers are collectively responsible for ensuring relevant research is developed, transferred and integrated into management. This study used social science theory and methods to understand perspectives about research by fire and fuels specialists and decision makers in the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and United States Forest Service. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model, these included beliefs about research usefulness, beliefs about the ease of using research, attitudes toward research, and the extent to which individuals reported they searched for, read, evaluated, used and promoted research. Results showed the federal interagency wildland fire management organization to be diverse with respect to beliefs, attitudes, and use of research. Differences were found by agency, administrative and pay level, education level, position, fire assignment, and type of fire responsibilities. According to the Diffusion of Innovations theory, early adopters of new ideas and approaches are informal opinion leaders who facilitate the use of innovations in social systems. Early adopters occurred more frequently in the National Park Service, in centralized offices, among fire ecologists and long-term fire analysts, and among those with graduate education. Innovative individuals and those with graduate education had more frequent experience with scientists, which correlated with more positive beliefs, attitudes, and use of research. When structural equation modeling was used to compare the relative effect of individual perspectives with agency science culture and work unit learning organization attributes, individual perspectives exerted stronger effects on research use than did organizational constructs. Although social constructs have the potential to improve the Technology Acceptance Model, individual differences explained substantially more variation in research use by fire managers than did organizational culture. Agency leaders can use these results to structure the fire management organization to better realize the benefit of the federal investments in fire and fuels research. Additionally, science communicators can use these results to tailor dissemination strategies toward specific audiences and toward early adopters within the interagency wildland fire management organization.

Recommended Citation

Wright, Vita, "INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES ON FIRE RESEARCH USE BY FIRE MANAGERS AND DECISION MAKERS IN THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND U.S. FOREST SERVICE" (2015). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12747.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12747