Information Communication Technology Utilization for Effective Emergency Management Networks

Abstract

Effective communication and coordination are crucial aspects of emergency management. This study examines how organizational representatives perceive information communication technologies (ICTs) in communication and coordination with other organizations. Furthermore, it investigates whether the centrality of organizations in emergency management networks relates to ICT utilization. We found that although many central organizations in emergency preparedness networks have high levels of ICT utilization, ICTs are underused by central organizations in friendship networks and emergency response networks. An organization’s level of ICT utilization needs to match its organizational goal, mission, structure, ICT capacity, and the role that it plays within emergency management networks.

Key words:

• Communication
• coordination
• information communication technology
• emergency management networks

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We express our appreciation for the valuable comments and feedback from the anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief of Public Management Review. We would like to thank Dr Kaifeng Yang for providing constructive comments on our manuscript. We would also like to thank Dr Vener Garayev for helping with data collection. This research is partially funded by National Science Foundation (Award No.: 0943208) Title: VOSS: Creating Functionally Collaborative Infrastructure in Virtual Organizations. PI: Dr Naim Kapucu. This research uses the data collected for the project.

Notes

1 Emergency management and disaster management are used interchangeably in the United States (Kapucu and Ozerdem 2013). Emergency management can be defined as ‘the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters’ (FEMA 2008, 1).

2 The list of primary and support emergency management organizations in Orange County is provided in the appendix.

3 Collecting data from nonprofit organizations in the emergency management networks was challenging. We were only able to include a small number of nonprofit organizations. This finding calls for more research efforts in collecting data on ICT utilization among nonprofit organizations in emergency management networks.

4 In the appendix, we included the correlations between the network variables and other ICT-related variables. We did not find any statistically significant correlations between indegree, outdegree, or betweenness and ICT capacity. Organizations that are central in emergency management networks do not necessarily seem to have high ICT capacity.

5 This paragraph of arguments is made based on our conversation with local emergency managers.