their work , the most common that was identified by respondents was their organisation not having enough resources to measure impact ( 61 % agree or strongly agree ) and not spending enough time on measuring impact ( 60 % agree or strongly agree ). Half of all respondents also agreed with the statement that ‘ my organisation does not have sufficient available data or evidence to directly attribute change to our economic development activities ’.
When asked to reflect on the challenges faced when measuring the impact of their work , the most common that was identified by respondents was their organisation not having enough resources to measure impact ( 61 % agree or strongly agree ) and not spending enough time on measuring impact ( 60 % agree or strongly agree ).
The evolution of economic development is accompanied by a shift in understanding the objectives of successful economic development . New methods need to evolve for measuring value beyond traditional objectives , such as wealth creation , further broadening measurement approaches . In the future , practitioners looking to articulate the value proposition of their work may have to determine and regularly track a handful of carefully selected metrics identified through initiatives like the IEDC ’ s Making It Count Project . These types of measures place a greater emphasis on outcomes such as perceptions of investment support , business preferences , and broad sentiment , thus complicating efforts to numerically quantify the impact . It will also be necessary to measure place prosperity , sustainability , and resilience .
NEXT STEPS IN THE RESEARCH These findings from Stage 1 provide important evidence for Stage 2 . This stage consists of 30 in-depth interviews with economic development professionals and a review of a range of case studies and examples provided by survey respondents . In conjunction with the EDA Board , the research will identify key approaches and metrics to measure the extent of the impact of the economic development sector in Australia .
Stage 2 will :
• Further test the relevance of the various success factors and challenges faced by economic development professionals .
• Assess the measurement and evaluation approaches being used and the challenges faced when applying these .
• Articulate how to evaluate and measure the impact of economic development given the measurement and data collection challenges and to what extent the quantification of impact is complicated by ever-increasing sustainability , social justice , and equity objectives .
We will be reporting on Stage 2 later in a future edition of this journal .
REFERENCES
1 Survey responses were received from across each Australian state and territory , as well as from geographical areas that could be classified as rural or remote , regional town / region , regional city and capital city ( see scope and scale section for details ). In terms of their sector of employment , the majority of responses ( n = 100 / 72 %) of respondents worked in the local government sector . The only other sectors to account for 5 % or more of all survey respondents were the small and medium business ( n = 12 or 8.7 %) and the regional development agency sectors ( n = 8 or 5.8 %).
2 . Blakely , E . J . & Leigh , N . G . 2010 . Planning Local Economic Development : Theory and Practice ( 4th ed ). SAGE Publications
3 . WALGA . 2019 . Local Economic Development : Research findings and future directions . Available at : https :// walga . asn . au / getattachment / Policy-Advice-and-Advocacy / Economic-Development / Economic- Development-Framework / Research-Findingsand-Future-Directions . pdf ? lang = en-AU
4 . Adapted from : Hill , E . 2023 . What is Economic Development ? And What is the Job of an Economic Development Professional ? Economic Development Quarterly vol . 37 , no . 1 , pp . 34-48 .
5 . Jones , F . & Bettany , V . 2019 . Introduction to community wealth building . Centre for Local Economic Strategies . Available at : https :// www . cles . org . uk / wp-content / uploads / 2019 / 09 / Introduction-to- CWB-29082019 . pdf
6 . Ethical Fields . n . d . About Community Wealth Building . Available at : https :// www . ethicalfields . com / community-wealth-building- 2 /#:~: text = Community % 20wealth % 20 building % 20is % 20local , resilient % 20local % 20 economies % 20and % 20communities . 7 . Added to and adapted from various sources and Faulkner , N . & Green , V . 2022 . Local Government : The New Agents of Change and Prosperity . Economic Development Journal vol . 15 , no . 1 , pp . 10-12 .
8 . Government of British Columbia . Performance Measurement Toolkit for Local Economic Development in B . C . – Toolkit User Guide . Available at : https :// www2 . gov . bc . ca / assets / gov / employment-business-and-economicdevelopment / economic-development / planand-measure / performance-measurement / pm _ toolkit _ pdf _ guide . pdf
9 . International Economic Development Council . 2014 . Making it Count : Metrics for High Performing EDOs . Available at : https :// cms1files . revize . com / sacome / 2 .% 20EDRP _ Metrics _ Full . pdf
10 . Chase , T . 2016 . Shifting Value Propositions : The Next Generation of Economic Development . The IEDC Economic Development Journal ( Fall 2016 ).
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PROFESSOR ROBERTA RYAN Prof . Roberta Ryan is a leading policy analyst , evaluation methodologist , educator and stakeholder engagement practitioner with over 30 years ’ experience in academia and consulting both in Australia and internationally . Director of the Institute for Regional Futures at the University of Newcastle , Roberta is well known for developing new approaches to the application of research to policy , evidence-based evaluation and driving sector outcomes .
SALLYANN HUNTING SallyAnn Hunting is an Affiliate at the University of Newcastle ’ s Institute for Regional Futures and the Project Manager on the EDA Impact Measurement Project . With extensive experience in strategic planning , economic impact assessment , place-making and social cohesion in communities , SallyAnn has conducted a wide range of projects in sustainable economic development , productivity improvement , public sector governance and evidence-based policy making .
MYLES EGAN Myles Egan is a Research Analyst at the University of Newcastle ’ s Institute for Regional Futures . A human geographer with both quantitative and qualitative research experience , Myles has a keen interest in the future of regions that are undergoing economic and social transitions away from traditional industries like coal mining and coal-fired power generation .
VOL 17 NO 1 2024 08 www . edaustralia . com . au