Exploring the Predictors of Organizational Preparedness for Natural Disasters

Area of Science:

• Disaster Management
• Organizational Behavior
• Risk Management

Background:

• Limited research exists on organizational-level disaster preparedness compared to individual/household levels.
• Existing methods for assessing organizational preparedness face challenges like leader bias and low response rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key predictors of organizational preparedness for natural disasters.
• To address the research gap concerning factors influencing how organizations prepare for disasters.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an online survey of 2,008 U.S. employees.
• Collected employee perspectives on their organizations' disaster preparedness.
• Analyzed data to identify organizational-level preparedness predictors.

Main Results:

• Organization size (facility level) was identified as a consistent predictor of organizational preparedness.
• Employee-reported data provided a novel approach to overcome leader bias and low response rates.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest that larger organizations tend to be better prepared for natural disasters.
• Policy recommendations and future research agendas for enhancing organizational disaster preparedness are proposed.