Tracing interorganizational information networks during emergency response period: A webometric approach to the 2012 Gumi chemical spill in South Korea

Abstract

In advocating an effective interorganizational emergency response networks, we introduce a webometric approach as a critical lens to better understand the challenges facing government organizations during a catastrophic event by comparing two interorganizational information networks derived from respectively content analysis and network approach, which collects data derived from government reports and press releases. This research presents the critical finding from a webometric approach, a lack of interorganizational risk communication was related to other elements of incident management, which implies that sufficient information flow between agencies is necessary for notifying agencies, mobilizing emergency facilities, and planning specific emergency responses, especially during a short-term emergency response to the 2012 Gumi chemical spill, South Korea. Also, the findings highlight that a nationally centralized and segmented emergency response system cannot respond fully to accident-triggered crises, particularly in developing countries. This study provides new insights into the way in which emergency management research based on the webometric perspective can capture interorganizational relationships in the context of catastrophic events.