Abstract

Quality enhancement in environmental assessment tends to be connected to control mechanisms and best-practice guidelines. This paper takes an alternative approach examining quality performance through the lenses of consultants' perceptions of appropriate action, primarily in relation to the scoping phase. The study builds on interviews with Swedish consultants. The interviews are analysed by using a recently published theoretical framework focusing on practitioners' spaces for action. The analysis reveals that quality is highly open for interpretation and that consultants have a strong position for guiding quality performance, partly due to the key knowledge they hold. Their action is strongly guided by how the consultants perceive their responsibility; requiring a balance between maintaining good relationships with their clients through 'good enough' performance and maintaining a good professional reputation by undertaking what they themselves perceive as a 'best' practice. These findings indicate a need to reconsider the research in this field, promoting a shift of focus away from the dominance of quality enhancement measures and engage with issues of consultants' and other practitioners' perceptions of their responsibility in respect of quality performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Environmental assessment; Practitioner; Consultant; Perception; Quality; Best practice; Scoping

Published in

Environmental Impact Assessment Review
2016, Volume: 60, pages: 169-175
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

SLU Authors

• Kågström, Mari

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2016.05.003

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81276