Developing Greater Capacities in Local People
Third, this model suggests that sustainability is also the result of developing greater capacities in local people. Expanding local capacity enables leaders to expand local capabilities. “People tend to avoid tasks and situations they believe exceed their capabilities, but they undertake and perform assuredly activities they judge themselves capable of handling.”69 Data suggest that once leaders began to attempt self-reliance, they had varied success.70 Despite results, leaders continued to believe in the idea of sustainability by working toward more effective practices demonstrating persistence as defined by Derrick71 as “the volitional control that enables the individual to self-regulate the behavior necessary for success”.72
Another part of developing local capacity is through local ownership. Results suggest that the weight of ownership was felt as local leaders and followers began to assume the responsibility of providing for the needs of their own communities.73 Additional data sets reveal that leaders understood they had to act in faith, give sacrificially out of their own incomes, and search for ways to leverage local resources to address the needs of their communities instead of relying on foreign aid and support. Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks74 purport that psychological ownership is “the state in which individuals feel as though the target ofownership or a piece of that target is theirs”.75 However, results imply that while leaders had a high level of psychological ownership correlating to their beliefs, contrary evidence suggested long-term action was limited.76 Implementing the model for sustainability could potentially act as an impetus for action in line with already held beliefs.
