The emergence of multiplex dynamics between information provision ties and rescue collaboration ties: a longitudinal network analytic approach to flooding cases in Myanmar

In disaster response processes, collaborations among multiple organizations are vital for effective disaster management. This study examined how multiplex ties concerning information provision and rescue collaboration activities formed among multiple organizations in disaster response networks across three separate Myanmar flooding cases in 2015, 2016, and 2018 by employing a longitudinal social network analysis of the relational data among 35 stakeholders collected by a series of surveys and testing several hypotheses. According to the theoretically hypothesized structural patterns, the study illustrated the evolving and changing multiplex dual and reciprocal ties concerning information provision and rescue collaboration tasks in the disaster relief process. One of the main findings was that after participating and cooperating with some organizations in the disaster relief process, the initiated ego organization also provided crucial information to the previously cooperating organizations in the Myanmar disaster response process. This study also showed that organizations were more likely to be rescue collaborators reciprocally when they had already shared the required information with other organizations. The findings of this study focusing on the multiplex dynamics between information provision ties and rescue collaboration ties can help disaster management practitioners, policy makers, and scholars understand the emergence of sustainable disaster management networks over multiple consecutive disasters.