Three essays on decision-making in contexts of change and uncertainty
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Today's world is characterized by various changing conditions and increased unpredictability, ranging from environmental upheavals to technological advancements. This dissertation is an attempt to advance our understanding of the processes and actions of decision-makers that aid in moderating harm and exploiting beneficial windows of opportunities in either anticipatory or reactive manners. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the first essay examines the issue of rural household resilience. This essay synthesizes some of the main contributions from various subfields and proposes a typology (i.e., a systematic classification of related concepts) to organize knowledge in this arena, as well as to guide future research and review efforts. The second essay assesses the resilience capacities of agro-pastoralists in the Altiplano region of Bolivia. The Bolivian Altiplano is characterized by climate variability and change. The households in this region are constantly engaging in a range of resilience-building activities, and this study investigates the effectiveness of those efforts. The third essay focuses on issues relating to the adoption of smart farm networks. Due to the rise in threats that transcend farm boundaries, management practices at the landscape or community level--aided by computing and communications technology--are often required to respond adequately. This study employs a translational research process to examine the views of commodity crop farmers in the United States on the use of digital technologies in collaborative contexts. Taken together, the essays in this dissertation contribute to the discussion and examination of decision-making in the contexts of change and uncertainty.
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Ph. D.