Toward a management framework for smart and sustainable resource management: The case of the Appalachian Trail

Abstract

With the Appalachian Trail (AT) as our research setting, grounded theory as our methodological approach, and qualitative interviews and archival analysis as our methods, we investigate the role crowdsourced data, social media, and smartphone apps could play in sustainable resource management (SRM). Centering the perspectives of AT resource managers, our analysis reveals that digital technologies can create new challenges and exacerbate existing ones. Place-centered challenges intensified by digital technologies are overcrowding and trail infrastructure degradation. Experience-centered challenges posed by digital technologies include information overload, limited operational capacity, and tensions between the traditional "AT experience" and digital life. Further, our analysis illuminates the technological, organizational, ethical, and experiential challenges and barriers to the systemic adoption of digital technologies for SRM. These empirical insights result in a management framework that focuses attention on the humanistic and organizational needs of resource managers that could be used for designing and implementing socio-technical systems that better align with social and cultural values of resource management contexts.

Keywords: Digital technologies; Grounded theory; Outdoor recreation; Sustainable resource management; Trail management.