Disaster Evacuation Decision Making By Business Executives

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What is the nature of the decision-making process used by executives responsible for managing tourist-oriented service organizations confronting disaster evacuation advisories? No research has been directed toward this question. The proposed research has six objectives: 1) to assess plans made by executives responsible for tourist- oriented private firms to assist them in making decisions related to evacuation of their organization when threatened with disaster; 2) to identify factors that account for the variation in this planning; 3) to describe the sequence of behavior that culminates in actual evacuation decisions; 4) to identify factors that account for the variation in these decisions, e.g., social characteristics, organizational structures and community qualities; 5) to describe established and emergent organizational policies designed to guide employee behavior; and 6) to formulate policy recommendations for emergency managers and business executives. A two-phased comparative field study methodology will be used. Phase I field studies will assess evacuation planning in three different sized exemplary communities and will identify factors that account for variation. Phase II field studies will be completed following two major disasters, actual or threatened, wherein evacuations occurred.