Member Commitment and Participation in Local Emergency Planning Committees

Abstract

Research on Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) has suggested that members’ perceptions of group processes and participation activities mediate the relationship between organizational context and LEPC effectiveness. Data from 57 LEPCs support the importance of organizational commitment in predicting member participation and the predictive power of some of organizational commitment's previously identified antecedents. However, the data failed to support two hypotheses about the effects of organizational context on group process and of member participation on LEPC effectiveness. These findings suggest ways to increase the effectiveness of voluntary, quasi‐public organizations such as LEPCs, citizen advisory panels, and planning boards.