Suchergebnisse

The case study uses secondary information to examine the financial crisis that morphed into public health emergency in Flint, Michigan. While previous crisis management studies have examined financial crises and public health emergencies, the present study embodies both of them and offers an opportunity to understand how multi‐level governments cooperate in responding to multiple emergencies. The overarching question of interest is how do local governments cooperate with multi‐level governments to respond to multiple local emergencies? The specific research questions are as follows: (i) What are the causes, consequences, cautions, and coping strategies of the Flint crises; (ii) What are the roles of multi‐level governments in responding to the Flint crises? and (iii) What are the indicators of success and failure in the response by multi‐level governments to the Flint crises? The paper draws on the American federalism and crisis management scholarship for context and finds that crisis management leadership, effective communication, subsidiarity principles as in multi‐level response, and accountability are necessary for effective response efforts that build resilient organizations. The findings corroborate previous studies making the present study generalizable to other emergencies. Local governments can learn from the Flint experience in mitigating the impact of crises.

We draw on social capital and social vulnerability explanations to investigate the determinants of household emergency preparedness using data from the 2008 General Social Survey (GSS) and multivariate ordinal logistic regression. We develop an ordinal‐level scale for household emergency preparedness. We also create indices for individual social capital and risk perception, which correlate with higher levels of household emergency preparedness. We show that race and gender per se do not make households more or less prepared for emergencies because these variables are proxies for socioeconomic inequalities in society. Our study provides insights into household emergency preparedness and direction for policymaking.

AbstractThe City of Jackson, Mississippi, has faced numerous problems related to its water supply in the last three decades. The most recent water crisis stemmed from the flooding of two water treatment plants, resulting in contamination and the shutting down of the water supply. The study examines antecedents to the Jackson Water Crisis and how it was addressed. The article investigates the following questions: (1) What is the effect of jurisdictional vulnerability on the resiliency of the Jackson Water Crisis, and (2) What role does the subsidiarity principle play in the resiliency of the Jackson Water Crisis? The study draws from social vulnerability theory to investigate Jackson's changing racial demographics starting in 1970 to understand the crisis. It then draws from the subsidiarity principle that underpins federal assistance to subnational governments to explain how multilevel governments cooperate to address social inequity and create a more resilient community.

Subnational U.S. governments retain the primary responsibility of constructing and preserving the public infrastructure that connects communities and businesses, enhances public service delivery, and promotes economic development in their jurisdiction. Drawing from punctuated equilibrium and social vulnerability theories for context, the present study investigates the determinants of state infrastructure spending, specifically roads and highways and transit systems. It utilizes balanced panel data on 50 U.S. states over 17 time periods and fixed-effects regressions with year dummies in its investigation. Evidence shows that state infrastructure spending is influenced by disaster events as well as social vulnerability factors. However, the effects of disasters and social vulnerability factors on state infrastructure spending depend on the infrastructure categories, suggesting that the determinants are more nuanced than extant studies indicate.

This study relies on a cultural theory of risk to examine how cultural biases (hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism, and fatalism) of local government officials affect their COVID-19 risk perception and support for COVID-19 mitigation measures. After controlling for partisanship, religiosity, and other factors, the analysis of survey data from county governments in the U.S. revealed that cultural biases matter. Officials with egalitarian and hierarchical cultural biases report higher support for adopting COVID-19 mitigation measures, while those with individualistic cultural biases report lower support. These findings highlight the need to understand cultural worldviews and develop cultural competencies necessary for governing traumatic events.

The present study draws on disaster impact scholarship, vulnerability theory, and panel data from 1029 counties over 10-year periods across the U.S., and random effects regressions with time effect dummies to examine the effects of the extent of disaster damage, disaster declaration, and jurisdictional vulnerability on local tax revenues. The study finds that disaster declaration, the extent of disaster damage, and jurisdictional vulnerability factors have additive effects on total local tax, property tax, and sales tax revenues. However, disasters do not affect the level of local dependence on property tax and sales tax. The study implications for policymaking include the advancement of community resilience through policies that improve fiscal planning systems, capital investments on infrastructure, and development of human capital (education), and employment opportunities to ameliorate the adverse effects of disasters on local tax revenues and contribute to social equity programs.

PurposeThe study investigates the perceived network effectiveness of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium (FBC). It also examines the impact of network coordination, longevity of membership and environmental support on perceived network effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachIt uses a cross-sectional, nonexperimental research design and an ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression that employed data from an online survey administered to local government employees from FBC member governments.FindingsThe results show that the FBC moderately meets the expectation of network participants to serve as a platform for exchanging experiences and increasing performance knowledge. However, the network's effectiveness is not dependent on the frequency of interactions among network members, but depends on their interactions with focal egos such as the FBC Executive Director. Contrary to expectations, the longevity of involvement with the network is not associated with perceived network effectiveness. Moreover, network members who perceive the environment as supportive are more likely to positively evaluate the network's effectiveness.Practical implicationsBecause perceived network effectiveness may be improved if the members interact with the right "focal" players, managers should proactively pursue closer connections with knowledgeable network members using additional and more frequent communication. Also, research efforts at identifying the characteristics of the right focal players that contribute to network effectiveness should be pursued.Originality/valueWhile there is extensive attention to the participation of public organizations in networks, less research focuses on network effectiveness examined at the network level. This study addresses this research gap by investigating if the FBC is effective in meeting its network goals.

This article discusses the plight of the homeless during public health emergencies and the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It reviews the role of public administrators that grounds their efforts by examining their foundational purpose to serve the most vulnerable in our society. Using subsidiarity principle as the context, it discusses homelessness in America and the role of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and their Continuum of Care program. It also highlights the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during public health emergencies and their interim guidelines for local governments in providing for the homeless during emergencies. Finally, through a case study on the city of Dallas, Texas, the article examines how local governments have responded to address the needs of the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes that it is imperative that public administrators at all levels of government explore areas of shared competence, cooperation, and allocate responsibility where it would yield the most efficient result.