Emergency Management: Gauging the Extensiveness and Quality of Public-and Private-Sector Collaboration at the Local Level

Abstract

This empirically based study compares the extensiveness and perceived quality of public and private emergency management—related collaborations at the grassroots level, based on a statewide survey of Florida county and city officials. The extensiveness of local officials’ involvement in private-sector collaboration is on par with their emergency management—related interactions with public-sector entities. County officials are more likely than city officials to report higher quality networks with both public and private partners. First responders rate the quality of their intergovernmental public-sector collaborations higher than their generalist counterparts; the results are more varied in terms of each group’s private-sector network quality assessments.