Ranking the collaborative competencies of local emergency managers: An analysis of researchers and practitioners ? perceptions in Taiwan

This study synthesizes the public management and emergency management literature to construct dimensions and components of the concept of emergency management collaborative competencies. These competencies are classified into four general dimensions: Leadership and Decision-Making, Team Building and Management, Resource Management, and Emergency Management Knowledge Brokerage and each dimension consists of multiple components. To date, the applicability of these dimensions to local emergency managers in Taiwan has yet to be accessed. Using data collected from a survey of 16 emergency management practitioners and scholars in Taiwan, this study uses the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to compare and rank the identified collaborative competencies. The results reveal the general applicability of the collaborative competencies dimensions to Taiwanese local emergency managers. The Emergency Management Knowledge Brokerage dimension, and the Communication and Negotiation and Conflict Management components of Team Building and Management, however, were considered less important. The results also show that practitioners and scholars hold different perceptions about the importance of the competencies in the dimensions of Leadership and Decision-Making, Team Building and Management, and Resource Management. This study further our understandings of the emergency management collaborative competencies construct, and efforts to bridge the emergency management research and practice communities.