Resource exchange patterns between Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs): A multilevel network assessment to improve disaster response capacity

Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) depend on interorganizational networks to rapidly deliver services to communities during times of crisis. These networks allow VOAD members to share resources before, during, and after disasters. A growing body of empirical research indicates that routine, pre-disaster interactions and exchanges between organizations predict coordination and collaboration during disasters. Rarely, however, do organizations systematically assess such routine exchanges. This study seeks to fill this gap by presenting a cyclical five-step framework in which organizations use assessments of multilevel routine exchanges to improve disaster response networks. During a pilot project with Nebraska VOAD members and their partners, we created a network survey to collect multilevel resource exchange data. The survey was administered to a total of 51 organizations in the Nebraska VOAD survey roster. We received complete surveys from 43 Nebraska VOAD organizations (84 % response rate). We use these survey results to illustrate how organizations can use our network assessment process of identifying, intervening, and improving to enhance disaster response capacity. State-level VOADs can use this approach to understand: 1) how their exchange networks function, 2) which organizations are exchange ‘pillars’ across multiple networks, and 3) which organizations could be better integrated into exchange networks. By evaluating resource exchange networks before and between disaster events, VOADs can adapt their networks to better assist communities during disasters.