Maintaining legitimacy of a contested practice: How the minerals industry understands its ‘social licence to operate’

Parsons, Richard; Lacey, Justine; Moffat, Kieren

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2014.04.002

Cited by 203 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Indeed, trust has been closely linked with a company's ability to secure an SLO (Moffat & Zhang 2014;Parsons et al 2014). In our experience, although public relations approaches can secure short-term support, such strategies can lead to even greater mistrust over the longer term, especially if the public relations message is not based on real performance.…”

Section: Building Trust Via the Collaborative Slo Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social impact assessment, social development programmes and social licence to operate: tensions and contradictions in intent and practice in the extractive sector

Harvey

Bice

2014

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

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In the past decade, the extractive sector has embraced social responsibility. Despite this, broad-based support for many extractive projects and operations remains elusive. Community opposition to resource projects appears to be increasing, even where compliance-based social impact assessments (SIAs) and generous benefits are in place. In seeking to understand this, the authors explore unintended contradictions in the implementation of regulatory SIA and the social development programmes (SDPs) being pursued by many extractive companies. Communities continue to mistrust extractive companies in the face of escalating regulation and offsetting development agendas. The authors contend that trust can only be attained by mobilising a company's core competencies, achieving credibility through total transparency, and maintaining appropriate roles and responsibilities of companies, governments and communities. The article presents an alternative approach, centred on the trust-building necessary to a social licence to operate. Such an approach involves 'collaborative moderation', aligns with the 'creating shared value' concept advocated by Porter and Kramer, utilises best practice SIA and uses SDP only where appropriate.

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Section: Building Trust Via the Collaborative Slo Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social impact assessment, social development programmes and social licence to operate: tensions and contradictions in intent and practice in the extractive sector

Harvey

Bice

2014

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

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“…And yet, even as SLO has become a prominent topic, it remains both intangible [31] and difficult to measure [32]. It has been argued that this is due to the fact that the concept itself is contingent on the vested interests of concerned parties [33].…”

Section: The Concept Of Slomentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Practices in Unconventional Shale Development: Newspaper Coverage of Stakeholder Concerns and Social License to Operate

et al. 2016

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Abstract:In this article we review prior literature regarding the concept of social license to operate, and related concepts, including corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, stakeholder management and cumulative effects. Informed by these concepts, we search for newspaper articles published in North American provinces and states where the Barnett, Duvernay, Marcellus and Montney shale plays are located. Using these data, we tabulate coverage of stakeholder concerns related to hydraulic fracturing and wastewater practices, and compare the extent to which these concerns vary over place and time. Our vocabulary analyses identify differences in the types and quantities of newspaper coverage devoted to concerns regarding hydraulic fracturing activities in general and wastewater practices in particular. We interpret these differences as suggesting that obtaining a social license to operate is likely not a one size fits all proposition. By understanding which stakeholder concerns are most salient in particular places and times, oil and gas operators and regulators can better tailor their strategies and policies to address local concerns. In other words, the findings from this study indicate that conventional understandings of risk as a technical or economic problem may not be adequate for dealing with unconventional resource challenges such as hydraulic fracturing. Operators and regulators may also need to manage social and cultural risks.

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“…We have taken a somewhat different position. 17 Recent literature on this subject has stressed the significance of local community support in corporate constructions of the 'social licence' (Parsons et al 2014). Our argument would be that what matters here is the demonstration of community support to a wider social audience, since there is little point in demonstrating its existence to the very people from whom it has been acquired.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

Large-Scale Mines and Local‑Level Politics

Filer¹,

Meur²

2017

Large-Scale Mines and Local-Level Politics: Between New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea

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Maintaining legitimacy of a contested practice: How the minerals industry understands its ‘social licence to operate’

Cited by 203 publications

References 24 publications

Social impact assessment, social development programmes and social licence to operate: tensions and contradictions in intent and practice in the extractive sector

Social impact assessment, social development programmes and social licence to operate: tensions and contradictions in intent and practice in the extractive sector

Comparative Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Practices in Unconventional Shale Development: Newspaper Coverage of Stakeholder Concerns and Social License to Operate

Large-Scale Mines and Local‑Level Politics

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