How do nondisaster missioned organizations extend their roles to respond to disasters?: The formation conditions, evolution processes, and limitations of the extending organization

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how non-disaster missioned organizations extend their roles to respond to disasters, which is referred to as ‘extending organization’ or Type III in the Disaster Research Center Typology. To achieve this, the current study investigated the formation conditions and evolution processes of extending organizations of a cooperative consumer organization, Gyeongju iCOOP (GiCOOP), which extended its roles by self-organizing a disaster-response team after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Gyeongju City, South Korea, 2016. Through a case study comprising in-depth interviews with GiCOOP members and public officials of central and local governments, this study found that the extending organization was successfully formed under several conditions, with the earthquake as a trigger and trustworthy relationships among the members, and evolved through diverse activities to strengthen community resilience capacity. Although the GiCOOP had sufficient financial resources and utilized external experts, its lack of workforce, expertise in disasters, and collaboration with local governments were critical hindrances in expanding its future activities. Based on these findings, several suggestions were made on the sustainability of extending organizations in the future.