Identifying Demographic, Social and Professional Characteristics for Effective Disaster Risk Management—A Case Study of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to address a gap in the literature associated with the influence of demographic characteristics of personnel working in disaster risk management on the organisational level of preparedness in this field. The study further aims to identify the impact of human, organisational, technological, coordination and environmental factors on the level of readiness in Saudi Arabia in dealing with crises and disasters. The case study applied a purposeful sampling approach in collecting 550 questionnaires from representatives of five geographical regions, 20 government organisations comprising 13 administrative regions. The study tested two hypotheses with the single-variance analysis test (P) performed for each stage (level) of the readiness of the relevant government departments inclusive of the demographics—age, education, position/job title, academic specialisation, number of disaster risk management related short courses completed and residential region of the study members. The findings suggest the influence of disaster management short course education and the region in which the respondent is located impacted significantly on the level of crisis and disaster organisational preparedness. Lesser impact on level of readiness for dealing with crises and disasters was identified for demographics of age, education level, position held and academic specialisation. Further, in the second area of the study findings indicate minimal variation in the impact of human, organisational, technological, coordination and environmental factors on the readiness of government departments in all phases of disaster risk management with all factors trending neutral and consistent with the weighed response averages.