Abstract
Over the last few decades, flood hazards have had a greater impact on society, meaning that communities increasingly need to work together to enhance their resilience. Literature suggests that preparedness to flooding events is generally low as most individuals do not take protective actions. Therefore, there is a need to stimulate individuals’ actions that increase their own and their communities’ resilience to flooding. Various factors must be addressed to encourage individuals to take action, such as providing information to improve risk perception, understanding cognitive processes that interpret environmental stimuli against the mental model, and considering social and cultural influences. This paper argues that Social Responsibility (SR), defined as an individual willingness to take up actions that benefit society, is part of a pre-existing mental model that can explain intentions to take preparedness actions that improve community resilience. Due to differing socio-cultural contexts, the SR perceptions of communities in different parts of the world may differ. In order to investigate this phenomenon, data of SR perceptions obtained from 180 completed questionnaires were collected from flooded and non-flooded communities in Semarang, Indonesia, and then compared against those obtained from 313 questionnaires based on a survey of communities in Birmingham and London in the UK. The results suggest that Indonesian communities demonstrate a higher level of SR scores than UK communities. A comparison of SR scores between flooded and non-flooded communities in the UK shows a higher level of SR in flooded communities. In contrast, the comparison between corresponding Indonesian communities indicates an almost similar level of SR. A comparison of SR scores between Indonesian and UK flooded communities shows a higher level of SR in Indonesian communities across several measures. Further comparison of SR scores between Indonesia and UK non-flooded communities demonstrates higher SR in Indonesian communities in all but one measure. This suggests that experience of flooding has a much stronger influence on raising SR perceptions in UK communities. Socio-cultural background may explain these differences in SR perceptions, particularly, in relation to collectivism orientation and the close-knit nature of Indonesian communities. Although higher SR perceptions do not necessarily mean higher levels of preparedness actions, this finding illuminates the important influence of socio-cultural context on community resilience enhancing efforts that rely on collective actions by individuals.
Highlights
Climate change is regarded as the most critical global challenge faced by humanity and a key factor that increases the risk of flooding
In the last two decades, literature (e.g., [1]) recognises that community resilience may hold the key to improved preparedness, to minimal flooding impact, and to quicker recovery periods
Community resilience is a dynamic and multi-faceted phenomenon that determines the ability of a community to withstand the impact of a disaster and carry-on functioning its aftermath
Summary
Climate change is regarded as the most critical global challenge faced by humanity and a key factor that increases the risk of flooding. Flooding has often left a devastating impact on communities in both physical and psychological ways and in short and longer terms. In some communities, flooding has caused damages with recovery periods that span years until a return to pre-flood conditions is achieved. In the last two decades, literature (e.g., [1]) recognises that community resilience may hold the key to improved preparedness, to minimal flooding impact, and to quicker recovery periods. Community resilience to flooding may be influenced by various factors, such as flood defence [2], adaptation and mitigation methods [3], flood warning systems [4], and insurance protection [5,6].
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