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MERICA
Past experience with
partners
•
Build
and
keep
good
relationships
•
Good relationships during
normal period of time
facilitate good collaboration
with partners during an
emergency.
External factor
Resource dependence on
state and federal support
Rationales of vertical collaboration:
•
Grant purposes
•
Resource-seeking
•
Training purposes
Rationales of horizontal-interlocal
collaboration:
•
Grant purposes
•
Vertical collaboration is
relatively less common than
horizontal collaboration.
•
Local governments view
higher levels of governments as
supporters, not commanders.
•
Looking for grants can be
viewed as a key reason of
vertical collaboration.
•
Financial incentives are not a
top reason of horizontal
collaboration.
Disaster magnitude
•
When an emergency becomes a
disaster and local governments
cannot respond to it only relying
on local resources, local
governments will search for
outside support through all types
of collaboration to deal with this
disaster.
•
Disaster severity influences a
local government’s attitude
towards collaboration.
Community attributes
•
Neighboring local governments
are like siblings and face similar
risks.
•
Local governments’ geographic
and demographic differences can
influence their level of EM
capacity, which changes the way
local governments respond to
emergencies and why they
engage in various collaborations.
•
Risk similarity, geographic
factors, and demographic
factors are critical factors that
need to be controlled for
analyzing why and how local
governments
engage
in
vertical
and
horizontal
collaborations.
Source: The author of this study.
Since local governments are designed as the first line of response
to all emergency types in the U.S., collaboration is typically
viewed as a useful strategy for local governments to
effectively manage cross-sector resources when handling both