Structured Mental Model Approach for Analyzing Perception of Risks to Rural Livelihood in Developing Countries

Claudia R. Binder and Regina Schöll
Additional contact information
Claudia R. Binder: Social and Industrial Ecology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Regina Schöll: Social and Industrial Ecology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

Sustainability, 2009, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-29

Abstract: This paper presents the Structural Mental Model Approach aimed at understanding differences in perception between experts and farmers regarding the various livelihood risks farmers are confronted with. The SMMA combines the Sustainable Livelihood Framework with the Mental Model Approach and consists of three steps: (i) definition and weighting of different livelihood capitals; (ii) analysis of livelihood dynamics, and (iii) definition of the social capital by means of agent networks. The results provide a sound basis for the design of sustainable policy interventions such as communication and educational programs which consider farmers’ priorities and viewpoints.

Keywords: mental models; sustainable rural livelihood; livelihood risks of farmers; developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/1/1/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/1/1/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:2:y:2009:i:1:p:1-29:d:6622

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().