Water markets and sustainable water use in Almería, Spain – assessing the readiness for organizational change
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-01-2013-0012 |
| Pages | 208-222 |
| Published date | 21 October 2013 |
| Date | 21 October 2013 |
| Author | Phillip T. Manno,Jesus Bravo,Mark Manfredo,Rafael C. Leon |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Water markets and sustainable
water use in Almerı
´a,
Spain – assessing the readiness
for organizational change
Phillip T. Manno
Arizona State University, Mesa, Arizona, USA
Jesus Bravo
Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship,
Washington State University, Richland, Washington, USA
Mark Manfredo
Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management,
Arizona State University, Mesa, Arizona, USA, and
Rafael C. Leon
Department of Economic and Business, University of Almerı
´a,
Almerı
´a, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – Water availability and usage in agriculture suggests increasing scarcity. To ensure
the long-term sustainability of water resources, efficient pricing and distribution methods must
be considered. The role that market-based systems of water distribution can play in enhancing the
management and sustainability of water resources has garnered attention. An important element
that cannot be ignored when contemplating changes to established agricultural water delivery
systems must be users’ readiness for change. Thus the purpose of this paper is to examine factors that
impact the readiness for organizational change to a system where users can buy and sell water in
an open market.
Design/methodology/approach – Using data collected from a survey of greenhouse growers
in Almerı
´a, Spain, a model of binary choice was developed to predict the probability of growers’
readiness to buy and sell water in an open market.
Findings – The level of education of the grower, and the use of a euro per hour water metering
system positively impacted the probability of the willingness to participate in formal water markets.
Also, the degree of satisfaction in the administration of the growers’ irrigation community, as
well as their overall confidence in anticipated water supplies, had a negative impact on readiness
to change.
Research limitations/implications – This research offers an interesting and unique scholarly
contribution as it fuses the extant management literature on the topic of organizational change with
issues related to natural resource management, thus contributing to the growing literature(s) related to
resource sustainability and management.
Originality/value – This research provides insight into some important factors which may predict
the readiness to change of agricultural water users toward more market-driven distribution systems.
Keywords Management, Sustainability, Agribusiness
Paper type Research paper
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
Received 10 January 2013
Revised 10 January 2013
Accepted 16 January 2013
World Journal of Entrepreneurship,
Management and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 9 No. 4, 2013
pp. 208-222
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/W JEMSD-01-2013-00 12
The authors would like to thank the USDA National Needs Fellowship Program for their support
of this research.
208
WJEMSD
9,4
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