Identity and behavior : inquisition of environmental discourse and its impact on inter-organizational interaction in environmental organizations

Abstract

This study intends to develop an in-depth understanding of how environmental organizations operate based on a set of socially constructed perception of nature called environmental discourse and its influence on interaction maintained between organizations. It aims to investigate the impact of discourse on environmental organizations and how it reflects on the action of organizations. To ensure a better understanding of the discourse articulated by environmental organizations, a discourse analysis framework was developed based on the perception of the notion of human-nature relationship and how society should advance in accordance with this relationship. This framework provides an insight into the rationale behind the actions of environmental organizations and reveals their perception on future directions. This study also developed a relationship type and strength framework to further examine the inter-organizational interaction maintained by the selected environmental organizations. The discourse and inter-organizational interaction framework provides detailed observations of the relations between discourse, perception, interaction between organizations on the macro level. Based on the observations, this study discusses and confirms the relationship between discourse and interaction in environmental organizations, and identifies the causes of changes in the discourse. The potential contribution of this study includes the development of an analytical tool to differentiate environmental organizations from one another based on their societal and economic-political perceptions. Based on the developed analytical tool, this study endeavors to understand the different conservation approaches used by various environmental organizations. The findings of this study also provide an alternative method in interpreting the behavior and actions of environmental organizations, lay the foundation for future studies on environmental discourse, and pave the way for studies that focus on the factors of change and discourse network.