Social licence in New Zealand—what is it?

Abstract

As the term ‘social licence to operate’ gains more traction in New Zealand, a plethora of meanings and understandings have been attributed to it. Many of these meanings and understandings, however, only tell a partial story that is often only economically beneficial to a particular industry or industry actor. This article surveys academic, industry, government and media writing about social licence across industries in New Zealand over the past 5 years, distilling out key messages, meanings and understandings that are being created and delivered. The article further compares these meanings and understandings to the original intent of the term as well as the meanings being generated from the extensive research on social licence being carried out in Australia and elsewhere.