How university students perceive emergency management: A case for marketing emergency management

The purpose of this study was to determine if university students understood the differences between first responders and emergency management as awareness of the differences informs the individual's decision-making processes.

Convenience sampling, mixed methods data collection with descriptive analysis and means testing.

US, Southeastern Conference University, during summer semester.

500 convenience sampled student volunteers.

Convenience sampled, mixed-mode survey administered May to July 2017.

Population sampling of a minimum of n = 372 (actual n = 500 obtained) surveys to achieve a 95 percent confidence level of p ≤ 0.05 ± 4.29 percent.

19.6 percent of the participants were able to associate response and recovery with emergency management. Word association with "Emergency Management" as the trigger word produced a 35.8 percent association with disasters and emergencies. 70.4 percent of the participants attended a university sponsored emergency preparedness course, but only 44.2 percent indicated they had received emergency preparedness training.

There was a derivation of three issues: A lack of understanding in the differences between first responders and emergency management, a non-association of emergencies and disasters with emergency management, and a lack of understanding in what emergency preparedness training is. Results point to a need for further education on the duties and responsibilities of the emergency management profession. A form of information transfer that may be productive would be to administer an awareness campaign via social marketing. Further study is indicated, using a more rigorous sampling and analysis methodology.