How stakeholder representatives cope with collaboration in the Swedish moose management system

Abstract

The collaborative ecosystem-based management of moose (Alces alces) in Sweden puts a strain on the involved stakeholders. Representatives have to cope with environmental uncertainty and social stress associated with goal conflicts. This article advanced the understanding of representatives’ coping strategies in response to perceived challenges and how these coping strategies are associated with social trust, focusing upon salient value similarity. A mixed-method approach, combining a questionnaire survey (n = 624) and interviews (n = 21) among landowners and hunter representatives, was employed. Survey results showed that the presence of emotion-centered coping strategies that involve venting of negative emotions and behavioral disengagement were associated with relatively lower trust, whereas problem-solving centered coping was associated with relatively higher trust. The interviews indicated the importance of appointing group leaders who are skilled at initiating dialogue and working toward decisions and compromises, as this seemed to hinder expressions of emotion-centered coping strategies.