NakHyeok Choi and KyungWoo Kim
This study aims to demonstrate how governmental authorities can take interorganizational network responses to address unexpected situations developed by the breakdown of critical…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to demonstrate how governmental authorities can take interorganizational network responses to address unexpected situations developed by the breakdown of critical infrastructure, such as communication failure in a hyperconnected society.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses social network analysis to investigate the performance of interorganizational response networks regarding the 2018 KT network blackout, a failure of telecommunication facility, compared to the planned network.
Findings
The national fire agency was the most prominent actor in the actual interorganizational network, while the actor was not significant in the planned network in addressing unexpected needs. Moreover, top government authorities were involved in the actual response network because of the national attention on the breakdown of the infrastructure as a focusing event.
Originality/value
Unexpected conditions in the actual response to a technological disaster, such as a critical infrastructure (CI) breakdown, require the involvement of emerging or non-significant actors in accordance with the findings related to other types of disasters. Particularly, communication failure in a hyperconnected society may involve prominent government authorities in the actual interorganizational response because of the event's broad and severe impact on the functions of society.
Details
Keywords
Kyungwoo Kim, Kyujin Jung and Kenneth Chilton
The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of social media use on the resilience of organizations involved in emergency response. While social media has been utilized…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of social media use on the resilience of organizations involved in emergency response. While social media has been utilized as a critical tool in the field of emergency management, few researchers have systemically examined its effect on organizations’ capacity to bounce back from catastrophic events. From the dimensional approach to social media use, this research focuses on the following three functions: providing information to local communities, transmitting information to local communities, and responding to the emotions of local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used survey data gleaned from 79 key organizations involved in emergency management to investigate the impact of social media use on resilience after a tragic flood in Seoul, South Korea in 2013. The authors also conducted interviews with ten emergency management officials to understand what administrative challenges they confront in using social media for their tasks.
Findings
The authors found that the provision of disaster information on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has a positive effect on the perceived level of organizational resilience. In addition, social media use correlates positively with community emotional responses.
Research limitations/implications
Given the focus on the emergency response to a natural disaster in urban areas, the results might not be generalizable to smaller cities or rural areas. The survey items that measure the perceptions of emergency managers may not represent the physical aspects of disaster recovery, such as the restoration of housing stock.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that public and nonprofit organizations can use social media to communicate with other organizations and the public in ways that demonstrate resilience. Emergency managers should address administrative challenges, such as trustworthiness of information delivered via social media and lack of personnel.
Originality/value
This paper provides systematic understandings of the effects of social media use on the resilience of the organizations that respond to a disaster.