Investigating the influence of participation in environmental impact assessment on organizational learning for regulators : a focus on renewable energy projects

Abstract

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an internationally recognised and globally implemented tool used to appraise developmental projects. The benefits of EIA have been widely reported in the academic literature and environmental management practice. EIA is applauded as a decision making and planning tool which can enable the identification, management, reduction and/or elimination of negative impacts and risks of proposed developments. In addition to these benefits, EIA is also recognised as a mechanism that promotes learning. These learning outcomes may result in transformation of personal values, standards, policy, and practise. Given this potential, the investigation of learning through regulator participation in the South African EIA process was adopted as a focus for this study. Public service organisations and their employees such as regulators, are subject to significant pressure to perform their duties capably and efficiently within the constraints of the public administrative structure. In the context of the EIA process, government organisations and regulators are considered to lack institutional memory and regulatory efficiency. However, it has been reported that public service organisations have the potential to learn, and organisational learning concepts could be utilised to identify this. This study aimed to investigate the influence of EIA participation on organisational learning for both competent and commenting regulators involved in EIA processes of renewable energy projects. A qualitative approach was taken for the study, where a total of 14 participants were interviewed through the use of semi-structured interview questions. The results were sorted and coded manually using thematic analysis techniques. The results presented the regulators' perception of learning outcomes gained through participation in renewable energy EIA projects. The findings of this study showed that regulators gained primarily single-loop learning outcomes at both national and provincial levels. Evidence of double-loop learning was possible mainly through collaborative engagements internally and externally. This study also found evidence of triple-loop learning for two participants; however, these outcomes could not be attributed to the rapid advances made in renewable energy project implementation. Furthermore, this study found that changes in the strategic focus of public organisations are constrained by the bureaucratic structure of the public organisation, thereby restricting organisational learning.