Value-focused thinking for community-based organizations: objectives and acceptance in local development

Abstract

A multi-site case study applies value-focused thinking methods in a community-engaged research framework within three organizations. All three organizations are community development corporations (CDCs), a type of community-based organization which directs assets and efforts toward housing stock and neighborhood improvement. Objectives hierarchies were developed for the three sites. A set of common aspects of these structures suggest ways to operationalize the generic mission of CDCs. Other aspects which vary across sites can be related to specific characteristics of the organizations and the communities in which they operate. The process of applying value-focused thinking is also compared across the organizations. The organizations made judgments about which modeling efforts would be useful at different stages of the study. These judgments are interpreted with respect to the technology acceptance model. They suggest that community-based operations research practitioners will find organizations similar to those in the study to be especially receptive to qualitative construction of objectives hierarchies.