Collaboration among emergency management networks and nonprofit organizations: An intersectional study examining the motivation for forming organizational relationships prior to disaster events

The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations of disaster response networks and nonprofit organizations as they decide to coordinate their activities of mitigation and preparedness. This is a study of interagency collaboration within an emergency management network, the connections that this network makes across the sectors of government, and the connections that are made with nonprofit agencies. Examining the individual emergency management network helps to demonstrate the connections that exist within the county level maps, while the full view of connections, consisting of both emergency management and the nonprofit organizations, offers insight into the motivations that cause agencies to reach out to collaborate. These findings on motivations and network connections should help explain inefficiencies that exist in the examined systems, demonstrate the usefulness of collaboration to close gaps in performance, and provide possible reasons for the funding disparities that exist between pre-disaster actions and post-disaster response and recovery. A mixed methods approach for this research was essential in order to fully explore the motivations of disaster response networks and nonprofit organizations as they decide to coordinate their activities of mitigation and preparedness. The findings of this study indicated that there is significant and positive correlation between cost reduction and citizens' involvement, and between level of collaboration and cost reduction. Additionally, the findings support the view that the state agencies act as a central hub for county level coordination and collaboration that exists prior to a disaster event.