Beyond social capital: A strategic action fields approach to social licence to operate

Australia's national economy continues to benefit from the extraction and exportation of non-renewable resources, even despite the end of its mining boom. The negative impacts of this primary industry endure and are felt disproportionately by rural communities in close proximity to mining sites. The challenge of holding mining and extractive companies to account for social concerns – which may be difficult to measure or pin down to any one cause – has influenced affected communities to look to other, non-regulatory means of accountability to raise their concerns and see them addressed. ‘Social licence to operate’ (SLO) is often touted as one such tool for holding large resource companies to account. But a growing field of research into the concept has remained largely focused on social capital measures and has yet to consider the conditions necessary to facilitate communities’ successful deployment of SLO as an accountability mechanism or negotiation tool. There remains a gap in our understanding about how SLO can be used meaningfully by communities as a tool for advocacy and accountability, especially in company-community negotiations.