Wald Dara M, Jacobson Susan K
Center for Policy Informatics, School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America.
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Apr 15;9(4):e93118. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093118. eCollection 2014.
Identifying stakeholder beliefs and attitudes is critical for resolving management conflicts. Debate over outdoor cat management is often described as a conflict between two groups, environmental advocates and animal welfare advocates, but little is known about the variables predicting differences among these critical stakeholder groups. We administered a mail survey to randomly selected stakeholders representing both of these groups (n=1,596) in Florida, where contention over the management of outdoor cats has been widespread. We used a structural equation model to evaluate stakeholder intention to support non-lethal management. The cognitive hierarchy model predicted that values influenced beliefs, which predicted general and specific attitudes, which in turn, influenced behavioral intentions. We posited that specific attitudes would mediate the effect of general attitudes, beliefs, and values on management support. Model fit statistics suggested that the final model fit the data well (CFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.062). The final model explained 74% of the variance in management support, and positive attitudes toward lethal management (humaneness) had the largest direct effect on management support. Specific attitudes toward lethal management and general attitudes toward outdoor cats mediated the relationship between positive (p<0.05) and negative cat-related impact beliefs (p<0.05) and support for management. These results supported the specificity hypothesis and the use of the cognitive hierarchy to assess stakeholder intention to support non-lethal cat management. Our findings suggest that stakeholders can simultaneously perceive both positive and negative beliefs about outdoor cats, which influence attitudes toward and support for non-lethal management.
识别利益相关者的信念和态度对于解决管理冲突至关重要。关于户外猫管理的争论通常被描述为两个群体之间的冲突，即环境倡导者和动物福利倡导者，但对于预测这些关键利益相关者群体之间差异的变量却知之甚少。我们对佛罗里达州随机抽取的代表这两个群体的利益相关者（n = 1596）进行了邮件调查，该州户外猫管理的争论已经很普遍。我们使用结构方程模型来评估利益相关者支持非致命管理的意愿。认知层次模型预测价值观会影响信念，信念会预测一般和特定态度，而态度又会反过来影响行为意图。我们假设特定态度会介导一般态度、信念和价值观对管理支持的影响。模型拟合统计表明最终模型与数据拟合良好（CFI = 0.94，RMSEA = 0.062）。最终模型解释了管理支持中74%的方差，对致命管理（人道性）的积极态度对管理支持的直接影响最大。对致命管理的特定态度和对户外猫的一般态度介导了与猫相关的积极（p < 0.05）和消极影响信念（p < 0.05）与管理支持之间的关系。这些结果支持了特异性假设以及使用认知层次来评估利益相关者支持非致命猫管理的意愿。我们的研究结果表明，利益相关者可以同时感知到关于户外猫的积极和消极信念，这些信念会影响对非致命管理的态度和支持。
