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Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 January 2022) | Viewed by 18631

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Roman Trötschel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Social, Organizational, & Political Psychology, Leuphana University, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
Interests: psychological processes and negotiations; complexity and negotiations; sustainability and negotiations; sustainable conflict resolution; political negotiations
Dr. Johann M. Majer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Social, Organizational, & Political Psychology, Leuphana University, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
Interests: joint decision making and negotiation in the transition towards sustainability; psychological barriers; sustainable conflict resolution; intrapersonal conflict; interpersonal conflict; intergenerational conflict

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although individual decision-making has been proven to play a critical role in sustainable development, in this transition, many barriers must be resolved through joint decision-making processes. It is noteworthy that most of the challenges humanity faces in the transition towards sustainability involve conflicts of interests and/or conflicts of values (e.g., migration on the social level, digital transformation on the economic level, or climate change on the ecological level). In light of the manifold forms of conflicts, negotiation as a socially interactive process of joint decision-making can turn out to be a powerful tool for preventing or solving conflicts in the context of sustainability. Indeed, sustainable solutions can be characterized by a number of aspects including but not limited to socially just, integrative, and future-oriented solutions both on an intersectional (i.e., at a certain period of time) and on an intergenerational level (i.e., across certain periods of time). This Special Issue is dedicated to fostering a richer understanding of the diverse drivers of and barriers to negotiations that aim at promoting sustainable development across all societal domains such as ecology, culture, or economy. In accordance with sustainability science as an inter- and transdisciplinary field of studies, we seek to bring together research from different disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics, law, education science, or other social sciences to address drivers of and barriers to sustainable conflict resolutions through negotiations. Thus, submissions may address various factors of sustainability relevant negotiations, for instance, on the level of the negotiating parties, the negotiation process, cultural conditions, or other contextual relevant factors. Submissions are particularly welcome that extend current knowledge on the drivers and barriers in negotiations and how to leverage negotiations for the transformation towards sustainability. In this Special Issue, we seek to stimulate an innovative collection of empirical, quantitative, qualitative, conceptual, or review articles that all aim at resolving conflicts, reconciling interests, and overcoming inequalities via negotiation within planetary boundaries.

Prof. Dr. Roman Trötschel
Dr. Johann M. Majer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • negotiation
  • transition
  • barriers and drivers
  • joint decision-making

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 197 KiB  
Editorial
Negotiating Sustainability Transitions: Why Does It Matter? What Are the Challenges? How to Proceed?
by Johann M. Majer and Roman Trötschel
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8691; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148691 - 15 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1633
Abstract
Why Does It Matter [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)

Research

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12 pages, 619 KiB  
Article
Bringing the Social Back into Sustainability: Why Integrative Negotiation Matters
by Patricia Elgoibar and Elio Shijaku
Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6699; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116699 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2689
Abstract
Although economic and environmental paradigms of sustainability in organizations are highly researched, more work is needed to understand the mechanisms concerning the impact of social factors. Given the importance of social sustainability in current organizational contexts, we explore how gender dimensions (diversity, equality) [...] Read more.
Although economic and environmental paradigms of sustainability in organizations are highly researched, more work is needed to understand the mechanisms concerning the impact of social factors. Given the importance of social sustainability in current organizational contexts, we explore how gender dimensions (diversity, equality) and social capital dimensions (embeddedness, cohesion) can lead to the betterment of socially driven, sustainable outcomes. Our conceptual framework and propositions are centered on how negotiation—particularly in its integrative form—is likely to promote social sustainability. Our study contributes to the ongoing research on the latest socially driven trends of sustainability in organizations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)
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20 pages, 627 KiB  
Article
The Phases Model of the Transformation to Sustainability (T2S)—Structuring through the Negotiation Perspective
by Ariel Macaspac Hernandez
Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5024; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095024 - 22 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2501
Abstract
The complexity of linking sustainability with transformation necessitates a critical re-evaluation of the ways the actors, processes, issues, structures, and outcomes related to the transformation to sustainability (T2S) can be understood. At the same time, achieving T2S is highly dependent on policies based [...] Read more.
The complexity of linking sustainability with transformation necessitates a critical re-evaluation of the ways the actors, processes, issues, structures, and outcomes related to the transformation to sustainability (T2S) can be understood. At the same time, achieving T2S is highly dependent on policies based on technical solutions that can prompt needed behavioural change, whereas these technical solutions are not always compatible with both planetary and societal boundaries. Therefore, achieving T2S also calls for evaluating the normative foundations of policies and actions. This paper contends that T2S is significantly defined by the multiplicity of negotiation processes. This justifies a deeper look at T2S from the perspective of negotiation studies. T2S is composed of different phases, each of which has a different set of actors, resources, and audiences. This paper introduces a theoretical model as an analytical meta-framework to structure how T2S unfolds in an orchestrated manner. This model builds on negotiation theories to focus on the actors’ perspectives on T2S. It proposes the division of the transformation process into phases—entry point, learning, sequencing, disrupting, and fortifying. Each of these phases is analysed to determine the “quality” of cooperation that can help fulfil the tasks required to master the so-called “cognitive games” of T2S (ripeness game, power game, bargaining game, policy game, scaling game). Moreover, insights are presented to explain how the designated milestones can be achieved to indicate the advancement to the next phase and eventually entrench the transformation process. The findings resulting from the analysis of the phases of T2S present potential lessons and opportunities for both theorists and practitioners/policymakers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)
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21 pages, 1596 KiB  
Article
“You Need a Month’s Holiday Just to Get over It!” Exploring Young People’s Lived Experiences of the UN Climate Change Negotiations
by Harriet Thew, Lucie Middlemiss and Jouni Paavola
Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4259; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074259 - 3 Apr 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2877
Abstract
Despite youth organisations having participated as a recognised constituency (YOUNGO) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over a decade, few studies have explored their lived experiences of participation. Drawing upon deep ethnographic engagement with a member organisation of [...] Read more.
Despite youth organisations having participated as a recognised constituency (YOUNGO) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over a decade, few studies have explored their lived experiences of participation. Drawing upon deep ethnographic engagement with a member organisation of YOUNGO conducted between 2015 and 2018, this paper applies the “7P” model from the Youth Studies literature to explore youth participation in the UNFCCC from seven intersecting lenses: Purpose, Positioning, Perspectives, Power Relations, Protection, Place, and Process. This yields many insights into how youth participants negotiate sustainability in this context, including the Purposes or drivers motivating their participation, the ways in which youth are Positioned within the UNFCCC, the asymmetrical Power Relations they have to navigate, as well as the logistical challenges relating to their Protection, including their physical safety and psychological wellbeing. Based on rich empirical findings, we amend the 7P model of youth participation, replacing Process, which we argue is more of a methodological than an analytical concern, with Psychological Factors, which we propose is a key factor in shaping youth participation in negotiations of sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)
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19 pages, 1343 KiB  
Article
Disasters as Enablers of Negotiation for Sustainability Transition: A Case from Odaka, Fukushima
by Masahiro Matsuura
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 3101; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053101 - 7 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2557
Abstract
Disaster risk at the community level is likely to increase as climate change worsens. In this study, the author investigated the impact of disasters on negotiation for community development, particularly as a promoter of sustainability negotiation. Studies on agenda setting in policy making [...] Read more.
Disaster risk at the community level is likely to increase as climate change worsens. In this study, the author investigated the impact of disasters on negotiation for community development, particularly as a promoter of sustainability negotiation. Studies on agenda setting in policy making and critical moments in negotiation were thoroughly reviewed. Based on the review, the author presents an extraordinary case of the Odaka community from Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. This community experienced a critical moment in the negotiation of its development after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and a subsequent nuclear disaster. The community also experienced a 5-year-long forced evacuation due to nuclear contamination from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. This case reveals a major shift in four aspects of negotiation—parties, interests, relationship, and legitimacy—and a transition to more sustainable developments. It also demonstrates the possibility that disasters can enable negotiation for more sustainable development patterns by transforming the associated settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)
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Other

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26 pages, 706 KiB  
Concept Paper
From Claiming to Creating Value: The Psychology of Negotiations on Common Resource Dilemmas
by Roman Trötschel, Marie van Treek, Caroline Heydenbluth, Kai Zhang and Johann M. Majer
Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5257; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095257 - 27 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4003
Abstract
Current sustainability challenges often reflect common resource dilemmas where peoples’ short-term self-interests are at odds with collective interests in the present and future. In this article, we highlight the key role of joint decision-making processes in negotiations to facilitate the management of common [...] Read more.
Current sustainability challenges often reflect common resource dilemmas where peoples’ short-term self-interests are at odds with collective interests in the present and future. In this article, we highlight the key role of joint decision-making processes in negotiations to facilitate the management of common resource dilemmas and to promote the transition toward sustainability. By reflecting on psychological drivers and barriers, we argue that the limited availability, the restricted accessibility, and the dynamic alterability of resources in negotiations on common resource dilemmas may cause a myopic mindset that fosters value claiming strategies and, ultimately, results in distributive-consumptive negotiation outcomes. To promote value creation in negotiations on common resource dilemmas, we argue that agents must perform a mindset shift with an inclusive social identity on a superordinate group level, an embracive prosocial motivation for other parties’ interests at and beyond the table, and a forward-looking cognitive orientation towards long-term consequences of their joint decisions. By shifting their mindset from a myopic towards a holistic cognitive orientation, agents may explore negotiation strategies to create value through increasing the availability, improving the accessibility, and using the alterability of resources. Applying these value creation strategies may help achieve integrative-transformative negotiation outcomes and promote sustainable agreements aimed at intersectional, interlocal, and intergenerational justice. We conclude by discussing additional psychological factors that play a pivotal role in negotiations on common resource dilemmas as well as further developments for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Negotiating Sustainability: The Role of Joint, Interactive Decision-Making Processes towards Sustainable Solutions)
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