TAKING THE PLUNGE: HOW DO WASTE MANAGEMENT DISPUTANTS DECIDE WHETHER TO USE ADR?

Abstract

This paper examines the incentives and disincentives for disputants in waste management conflicts to participate in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes such as negotiation, facilitation and mediation. Twenty-four cases in which ADR was applied to a waste management conflict in Ontario or Massachusetts are studied, using telephone interviews with 123 ADR participants as the principal source of data. The paper identifies and ranks the importance of incentives and disincentives that influence a disputant's decision whether to participate in ADR, compares these factors to those addressed in the literature, and identifies the sub-factors by which they are in turn influenced. It examines whether these key factors have different effects on different types of parties, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening the incentives of disputants to enter into ADR processes.