Organizational risk perception in public agencies: the role of contracting and scientific and professional information

Abstract

ABSTRACT Public agencies are increasingly required to respond to multiple and evolving threats. Perceptions of risk are important triggers of organizational responses and motivate adaptive strategies. Integrating administrative data with a survey of public managers employed across the 300 largest transit agencies in the US, we examine how outsourcing decisions and reliance on scientific and professional sources of information influence public agencies’ perceptions of extreme weather events’ risks. Results show that reliance on scientific and professional sources of information is positively associated with perceived risk of extreme weather events. The effect of contracting on risk perceptions depends on agencies’ outsourcing strategies.