The Dynamics of an Interorganizational Emergency Management Network: Interdependent and Independent Risk Hypotheses

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12993
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019

The Dynamics of an Interorganizational Emergency Management Network 225

Kyujin Jung

Sungkyunkwan University

Minsun Song

Valdosta State University

The Dynamics of an Interorganizational Emergency

Management Network: Interdependent and Independent

Risk Hypotheses

Research Article

Hyung Jun Park is full professor in

the Department of Public Administration

and the Graduate School of Governance

at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His

research on policy network, policy analysis,

collaborative governance, economic

development, regulatory policies, and

other topics has been published in

Public

Administration Review, Public Management

Review, American Review of Public

Administration,

and Korean academic

journals. He received his PhD from Florida

State University in 2005.

E-mail: hjpark72@skku.edu

Minsun Song is assistant professor

in Department of Political Science at

Valdosta State University. She earned her

PhD in 2016 from Florida State University.

Her research has been published in

Public Administration Review, Urban

Affairs Review, Quality and Quantity,

and

the

Journal of Homeland Security and

Emergency Management

. Her research

focuses on issues related to emergency

management, collaborative networks, and

local governance.

E-mail: msong@valdosta.edu

Kyujin Jung is assistant professor in

the Department of Public Administration

and the Graduate School of Governance at

Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. He has

performed grant research projects funded

by the National Science Foundation, IBM

Center for the Business of Government,

and Seoul Institute to investigate

interorganizational collaboration.

His research has appeared in

Public

Administration Review, Urban Affairs

Review, Government Information Quarterly,

and

Quality and Quantity

. His research

interests include interorganizational

arrangements, social network analysis, and

issues related to emergency management.

E-mail: kjung1@skku.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 79, Iss. 2, pp. 225–235. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12993.

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to uncover the dynamic structure of an interorganizational emergency

management network after a disaster. This research tests two hypothesized network structures: interdependent risk and

independent risk. While the former illustrates the importance of trust and information redundancy in coordinating

and aligning emergency preparedness and response, the latter captures the tendency for local actors to seek dominant

partners to bridge crucial information across the region. A stochastic actor-based model with a forward selection

strategy is used to analyze the structural effects of endogenous networks and the effects of exogenous community

attributes on interorganizational ties. Based on the data sets collected before and after the 2012 typhoons in South

Korea, the results support the interdependent risk hypothesis, suggesting that an interorganizational network structure

tends to evolve into the notion of shared collaboration risk.

Evidence for Practice

• Strengthening interdependent relationships that rely on mutual aid matters in increasing the potential

benefits and decreasing the relational risk caused by partners’ behavior and deriving from uncertainty among

emergency management organizations across sectors.

• Forging direct ties with other emergency management organizations drives the stronger structural benefits of

a clustered structure, highlighting associated benefits such as technical resource sharing and the coordination

of consensus-based joint activities.

• A close-knit emergency management network based on direct collaborative ties is critical for securing

communication channels to build resilient communities at the local level, enhancing effective information

and resource mobilization in emergency response and recovery operations.

A

growing body of research has highlighted the

importance of interorganizational emergency

management (EM) networks (Andrew and

Carr 2013; Choi and Brower 2006; Guo and Kapucu

2015; Kapucu 2006; Kapucu and Hu 2016; Waugh

2003; Waugh and Streib 2006), but still few researchers

have identified how the patterns of social relations

among diverse local organizations are changed by a

disaster (Hu, Knox, and Kapucu 2014). The changes

in the collaborative structure reflect the gap between

planned and response EM networks (Song and Jung

2015). The gap exposes the operational problems

of disaster response. Given resource limitations

and fragmented regional governance, collaborative

networks encompassing multilevel governments have

been stressed in promoting successful adaptation to

adversity (Andrew 2009, 2010; Kapucu, Arslan, and

Collins 2010; Kapucu, Hawkins, and Rivera 2013).

Despite the necessity of comprehensive EM networks

for effective response, each organization is still

exposed to relational risk with its partners (Song,

Park, and Jung 2018). To reduce their exposure to

risks, organizations may adopt either a risk-sharing

strategy based on an interdependent closure network

or a risk-relieving strategy based on the creation of

relationships with those that are centrally connected

to others as coordinators. This research tests the two

hypotheses: interdependent risk and independent

risk. The former illustrates the importance of trust

building and information redundancy in emergency

preparedness and response. The latter captures the

tendency for local actors to seek dominant partners

to bridge crucial information across the region (see

Andrew 2009, 2010; Andrew and Carr 2013).

The primary objective of this study is to determine

the patterns of interorganizational relations and

how planned joint coordination efforts are modified

to meet unexpected local demands after a disaster

occurs. In the realm of EM, whether planned or not,

self-organizing governance emerges during disasters in

Hyung Jun Park

Sungkyunkwan University