Reflections on research paradigms: Their relationship to understanding and facilitating collaboration for sustainable tourism development

Abstract

Wicked problems of the world—poverty, health and wellbeing, equality, climate change, refugee crises, sustainability, … ; continue to challenge human-kind. Despite decades of collaborations, partnerships, policies and research, these wicked problems remain primarily unresolved and manifold. This is not unexpected as this is inherent in the nature of wicked problems. As Rittel (1967 in Churchman, 1967) and Rittel and Webber (1973) noted, wicked problems are marked by the inability to provide a universal solution and a universal research approach. Instead the problems are context specific and continually transmogrify – there is no end point. In addition, they can overlap, interrelate, interconnect and intersect. In framing the nature of a wicked problem, the knowledge sets and experiences, social situatedness, respective insider- or outsiderness and worldviews of the various stakeholders involved play critical roles with regard to how the problem is addressed. They inform and shape what is given attention and why; what is included or excluded and why; as well as the methodologies and methods used. Every attempt to address a wicked problem leaves a legacy including repercussions and unintended consequences. There is no undoing of actions. As four of the manifold stake-holders concerned with wicked problems, researchers, planners, designers and practitioners have the task of “improv[ing] some [of the] characteristics of the world where people live …” (Rittel & Webber, 1973:167). These four stakeholders, like all stakeholders, are responsible for the consequences of their actions and ongoing ramifications associated with the redress of wicked problems. Unlike traditional “scientized” (Xiang, 2013:2) linear approaches used to address solvable, or “tame“, problems; non-linear, social process-based problem-solving approaches are required for wicked problems. Rather than outcomes being supported/not supported or validated/not validated in the case of tame problems, strategies used to address wicked problems are usually evaluated using criteria, such as “better or worse”, and are always influenced by stakeholder viewpoints (Rittel & Webber, 1973:163). As a consequence of the nature of wicked problems, there is no quick fix or easy way to address these “malignant“, “vicious“, “tricky“, “aggressive“ – wicked problems (Rittel & Webber, 1973:160).