Explaining implementation behaviour of the National Incident Management System (NIMS)

Area of Science:

• Public Administration
• Emergency Management
• Policy Implementation

Background:

• The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a significant policy mandate aimed at standardizing emergency management efforts across diverse entities in the United States.
• Effective implementation of NIMS is crucial for unified and efficient disaster response.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the behavioral intentions and actual implementation of NIMS by counties in the United States.
• To identify key factors influencing county-level NIMS adoption and adherence.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of variables identified in NIMS and policy literature.
• Assessment of factors influencing behavioral intentions and actual behavior of counties regarding NIMS.

Main Results:

• Three primary factors—NIMS policy characteristics, implementer views, and local capacity—significantly influence both intended and actual NIMS implementation by counties.
• Inter-organizational characteristics were found to impact only the actual behavior of counties in implementing NIMS.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that the overarching goals of NIMS may not be fully realized due to implementation challenges.
• The study reinforces existing disaster research indicating inherent limitations in achieving complete standardization within emergency management.