Investigating Blame for Human-Wildlife Conflict: Reason Conditions for Human-Elephant Conflict in Borneo

Blame attribution, the process of assigning responsibility for a negative event, has critical implications for managing human-wildlife conflict (HWC). This study advances understandings of blame attribution in human-elephant conflict (HEC) on the island of Borneo. Specifically, we advance theory on how internal (villager-related) and external (societal) attributions influence HEC and villagers’ willingness to participate in its mitigation efforts. We conducted surveys with villagers living in and near elephant habitats who have experienced HEC firsthand. We collected data on participants’ attributions of blame for HEC, dividing them into internal and external factors, as well as their willingness to engage in HEC mitigation actions. Findings reveal that villagers attribute blame to both external factors, such as global demand for products cultivated in elephant habitat, and internal factors, including local misunderstandings of elephant behavior. Additionally, villagers who blamed external factors expressed a greater willingness to engage in HEC mitigation efforts. These findings underscore the importance of blame attribution in shaping attitudes toward HEC mitigation. Villagers’ propensity to engage in mitigation actions varies based on whether they attributed blame for HEC to external or internal factors. The study highlights the need to address socio-political and environmental drivers of HEC in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. Acknowledging external attributions may foster local participation in conflict mitigation efforts by leveraging underlying motives that gave rise to the source of blame in our study.