Influencing factors and mechanisms of inter-organization collaboration obstacles in emergency rescue for urban rail transit

Abstract

The characteristics of urban rail transit emergencies include fast diffusion, wide-ranging influence and difficult handling. They require the coordination of multiple organizations. Previous studies have shown that the inter-organization collaboration efficiency is low. This article takes the subject of urban rail transit emergencies and studies the factors that influence inter-organization collaboration obstacles in emergency rescues, trying to reveal the formation path of interorganization emergency collaboration obstacles. The 25 factors that influence inter-organization collaboration obstacles, which are determined using interviews and a survey, are grouped into five major elements (emergency organization obstacles, emergency information obstacles, emergency resource obstacles, emergency plan obstacles and emergency command obstacles). A hypothesis model of the relationship among these factors is established based on emergency management theory and organization collaboration theory, and then empirical research is conducted using a structural equation model combined with large-scale questionnaires. Then the dynamic causal model of inter-organization collaboration obstacles is established through system dynamics to explore the formation mechanism of such obstacles. The results indicate that the five elements interact with each other, and that eliminating these obstacles, especially those in the emergency organization obstacles and emergency plan obstacles groups, is essential for improving the efficiency of emergency command and inter-organization collaboration.

Organisation size, innovativeness, self-organisation and inter-organisational coordination

“…Moreover, Clarke and Ramalingam (2008) emphasise that humanitarian organisations should hire adequately trained employees with the skills necessary to handle emergency situations as they require a lot of flexibility and commitment to alleviate the immediate suffering of the victims. This finding of the study supports the findings by Zhang et al (2017), Bisri (2016a), Moshtari and Gonçalves (2016) and McEntire (2002) which indicate that an organisation's size in terms of adequate number of employees with appropriate skills who are able to learn from each other and improve on their organisational capabilities will eventually enable them to coordinate with others and provide the right humanitarian services at the right time and in the right quality. This study also empirically shows that humanitarian organisation size significantly influences an organisation's level of innovativeness.…”

“…This suggests that the size of the organisation may affect its effective pursuit of collective actions even in scenarios where aid organisations balk at cooperating with others. Further, Zhang et al (2017) posit that the size of the organisation determines the scope of duties, working process, information delivery and resource preparation required for an organisation to work with others. Scriven (2013) finds the size of the organisation necessary in developing relationships of trust among similar actors, in bringing diverse actors together, for knowledge management and information exchange, advocacy, resource mobilisation and, in some cases, the implementation of humanitarian programming.…”

“…Conversely, an organisation that lacks such ingredients may find challenges in rational emergency planning, transmission of information, resources scheduling and uncertainty in emergency command. This may lead to untimely delivery of relief in terms of food, water, sanitation and health services (WASH), medicine, shelter to the affected (Zhang et al, 2017).…”

“…Existing studies have used mechanisms such as self-organisation, adaptability and organisational networks (Mutebi et al, 2020), resource sharing (Pazirandeh and Maghsoudi, 2017), cluster systems (Jensen and Hertz, 2016), inter-organisational communication, shared goals and level of trust (Ko_ zuch and Sienkiewicz-Małyjurek, 2016) and inter-organisational and intra-organisational factors (Moshtari and Gonçalves, 2016), organisational culture (Prasanna and Haavisto, 2018). On the other hand, Zhang et al (2017) have focussed on emergency organisation, information, resource obstacles and plan command obstacles. This study contributes to the literature by filling theoretical and empirical gaps on humanitarian organisation size and IOC.…”

How to Improve the Cooperation Mechanism of Emergency Rescue and Optimize the Cooperation Strategy in China: A Tripartite Evolutionary Game Model

“…The implementation of emergency rescues often requires on-site commands, search-and-rescue personnel, on-site protection, material support, medical treatment, and other work. It is difficult for a single government organization to manage emergencies and complete emergency rescue operations alone [16,17].…”