Abstract
This study examined the propensity of social media use by underserved communities by drawing on the literature on the digital divide and attribution theory. Specifically, this research explored the factors that can influence the use of social media for disaster management. The study used survey methodology to collect data and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The results of the study indicate: (1) that the propensity of social media use for disaster management is low for underserved communities; (2) a positive relationship between an individual’s effort and the intention to use social media for disaster management; and (3) a negative relationship between task difficulty and the intention to use social media for disaster management. The study expanded the literature on the use of social media in disaster management. The article also provides both theoretical and practical implications.
Highlights
The ubiquitous nature of social media has changed the landscape of communication in the field of disaster management
This study examined the propensity of social media use by underserved communities by drawing on the literature on the digital divide and attribution theory
Drawing on the literature on the digital divide and attribution theory, this study examined the propensity of using social media by a sample of underserved, predominantly African-American, communities in southeast Texas and explored the factors that can influence the use of social media for disaster management
Summary
The ubiquitous nature of social media has changed the landscape of communication in the field of disaster management. Organizations and individuals involved in managing disasters show optimism regarding the use of social media for enhanced communication and operations during disaster management (Reynolds and Seeger 2012; Houston et al 2014; McCormick 2016; Marlowe et al 2018). They tend to leverage their own social networks with social media to discover and offer information critical for crucial decisions on heeding warnings and planning evacuations (Ngamassi et al 2016a). Social media have been used in collecting data for assessing the situation of disasters and developing an operational picture, coordinating rescue operations, and communicating valuable information to as many people as possible (Berchtold et al 2020)
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