Abstract
The production of fossil energy resources is central to economic development for developing economies such as Ghana, with abundant natural resources, despite the interrelated socio-ecological disruptions. Owing to the value of the newly found oil and gas resources, disputes are sourced from a tradeoff between financial gains and socio-ecological sustainability among multiple decision-makers (DMs) in the Western Region enclave. Strategic negotiations to formally analyze the stability behavior of the government, “fisherfolks,” and oil companies as major DMs with extensive interrelated strategies are necessary for resolving the ongoing conflict. This research proposes a hybrid decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) - graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) method for multiple DMs to analyze complicated conflicts. The DEMATEL method is used to identify critical strategies based on their interrelationship and then analyze the multiple DMs’ stability behavior using an extended matrix-based algorithm within the GMCR model. An algorithm for the proposed hybrid method is put forward and applied to resolve the case of the energy-resource production dispute in Ghana to demonstrate its procedure. The analysis objectively simplifies a complicated conflict and provides strategic insights for policymakers on the stability behavior of multiple DMs that promote sustainable energy resource production.
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Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China 71971115 and 71471087. We also, express our profound gratitude to the Editor and the anonymous referees for their dedication to improving the quality of this research.
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Bismark Appiah Addae received the M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. His research focus is on decision science and conflict analysis within the domains of energy-economy-environment, Smart Energy Cities, Sustainable Development, and Urban and Social Systems. He is a recipient of the Nanjing Government and the Chinese Government Scholarship Awards.
Sifan Dai is currently a Master’s student at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. Her research focus is on conflict analysis and decision-making theory.
Haiyan Xu is a professor in the College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. She received her BSc degree from Nanjing University, China, and her Master and PhD degrees from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her current research interests in game theory and conflict analysis include the development of normal algebraic techniques for conflict resolution and methods in environmental management and finance. She is the associate editor of Group Decision and Negotiation and a member of the editorial board for European Journal of Operational Research.
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Addae, B.A., Dai, S. & Xu, H. Energy Conflict Resolution for Sustainable Resource Production in Ghana Using a Hybrid DEMATEL-GMCR Model. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-024-5602-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-024-5602-3