Disaster response preparedness coordination through social networks

Abstract

Studies of coordination in human networks have typically presented models that require stable working relationships. These models cannot be applied to emergency response management, which demands distributed coordination in volatile situations. This paper argues that changes to interconnectedness of nodes in a network may have implications for the potential to coordinate. A social network-based coordination model is proposed to explore an organizational actor's state of readiness in extreme conditions. To test this hypothesis, the study investigates survey data from state law enforcement, state emergency services and local law enforcement, presenting agency-based (macro) and cross-agency (micro) analysis on 224 completed questionnaires. The main findings are: (i) there is a positive correlation between network connectedness and the potential to coordinate; (ii) the concept of tiers within an emergency response network may exist and be characterized by the sub-network with which an organization associates; (iii) a range or threshold characterizes how interconnected an organization at a given tier should be.