The Factors Affecting Volunteers’ Willingness to Participate in Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

Disaster preparedness is crucial for providing an effective response to, and reducing the possible impacts of, disasters. Although volunteers’ participation plays an important role in disaster preparedness, their actual participation in disaster preparedness activities is still low. To find ways to encourage more volunteers to participate, this study analyzed the social background and organizational and attitudinal factors affecting the volunteers’ willingness to participate. Questionnaires were distributed to 990 registered disaster volunteers across Beijing and the data were analyzed using linear regression models. Results revealed a weak willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Only 28.08% of the respondents indicated that they were “very ready” to participate in voluntary disaster preparedness, and 14.65% showed “a little bit” of interest. The following was concluded: (1) Disaster volunteers’ social background variables were related to their willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Compared to male volunteers, female volunteers were more willing to participate. Chinese Communist Party members were more willing to participate than non-members. (2) Providing accidental life insurance for the volunteers had a positive effect on their willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Provision of more training had a negative effect on the volunteers’ willingness to participate, indicating a low quality of training. (3) Organizational identification was positively related to the volunteers’ willingness to participate. According to these results, we suggest that volunteer organizations should improve their standards and procedures for disaster volunteer recruitment and selection, and gain a deeper understanding of the needs of the disaster volunteers in order to better motivate them to participate.

Willingness to Prepare for Disasters among Individuals with Disabilities: An Essential Component for Building Disaster Resiliency

“…volunteers, and medical students to participate in preparedness and response activities (Brice et al 2017;Ma et al 2021;Odai et al 2019;Sultan et al 2020). However, empirical research investigating the association between willingness and disaster preparedness among individuals is scarce in the existing literature.…”

“…Furthermore, the voluntary nature of disaster preparedness emphasizes the crucial role played by individuals' willingness to prepare. Some studies have explored the willingness of emergency managers, volunteers, and medical students to participate in preparedness and response activities (Brice et al 2017;Ma et al 2021;Odai et al 2019;Sultan et al 2020). However, empirical research inves-tigating the association between willingness and disaster preparedness among individuals is scarce in the existing literature.…”

Innovative Life-Cycle Inspection Strategy of Civil Infrastructure: Smartphone-Based Public Participation

“…W is the willingness of citizens to perform inspection tasks. Te willingness of citizens is afected by public social background (including gender and education level), organizational integrity (including security, safety training, and rewards), and social perception (including social culture and government mobilization capabilities) [72]. Te value of W is directly related to whether citizens choose to perform or refuse the task when they receive the task.…”

“…Te range of parameter values is presented in Table 7. Following the questionnaire survey conducted by Ma et al [72], the value range of W was set at 0.3-0.7. Specifcally, 0.3 represents the typical proportion of citizens who are "very willing," and 0.7 signifes the typical combined proportion of citizens who are "very willing," who have "a little bit of interest," and who are "not sure."…”

Examining the effectiveness of a training program on improving knowledge, functional skills, and attitude in natural disaster volunteers

“…With the advancement of technology and science, volunteers can now easily access new knowledge in various health fields ( 10 ). However, knowledge alone is not enough and volunteers need skills and attitude to manage crises ( 11 ). Broadly speaking, volunteers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes can comprise ethics, emergency maneuvers, personal protective equipment, public health measures, awareness of specific disasters, incident command system (ICS), disaster triage, and emergency planning ( 12 ).…”