Conceptualizing State Voluntary Aid Organizations in Disaster (SVOAD) effectiveness

Abstract

Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) exist at the national, state, regional, and local levels as a platform for sharing information and supporting coordination among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that support disaster response and recovery efforts in the United States. These entities are described as important in disaster response and recovery policy and plans and in disaster scholarship. Yet, virtually no research has explicitly examined these entities at any level. This research began to address this gap in the literature by exploring what State VOAD (SVOAD) effectiveness meant to current and past SVOAD chairs through semi‐structured interviews. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze data gathered. The result of this analysis is a grounded definition of SVOAD effectiveness and identification of its dimensions. This manuscript presents the definition and the evidence that supports it and discusses how this information may be applied to support practice and future research.