Decolonising indigenous social impact research using community-based methods
- Publication Type:
- Conference Proceeding
- Citation:
- Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019 - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference, 2019, pp. 64 - 73
- Issue Date:
- 2019-01-01
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© 2019 Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019 - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference. All rights reserved. Indigenous procurement policies encourage the construction sector to provide new training, employment and business opportunities for Indigenous people suffering from economic and social disadvantage. However, the success of these policies is often distorted by the failure of policy evaluations to account for Indigenous perceptions of social value. Since these often differ markedly from non-Indigenous values, this can distort the allocation of funds to Indigenous communities and exacerbate the marginalisation of the communities these policies are meant to help. Drawing on theories of community-based research, this methodological paper seeks to reconceptualise approaches to measuring Indigenous social value in an Indigenous social procurement policy context. Working in partnership with a peak body for Aboriginal business in Australia, we have co-designed a novel approach to Indigenous social impact research that recognises the legitimacy of Indigenous perspectives when investigating the social value Indigenous procurement policies create. We argue that culturally appropriate focus groups (yarning discussion groups) are appropriate in Indigenous social impact research because they prioritise Indigenous people's experiences of Indigenous procurement policies, rather than focusing on simplistic policy targets. As a method that promotes community involvement in social impact research to define how social value is perceived, yarning discussion groups have significant implications for future research seeking to represent Indigeonus perspectives of social value. It is concluded the approach developed here can be operationalised in the field to better understand the nature of Indigenous social value and the impact created by Indigenous procurement policies in Australia and other countries with disadvantaged Indigenous populations.
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