Organizational Accountability Review of Taiwan's Disaster Management Activities In Response To Typhoon Morakot Taiwanese System of Government 174

Responsibility of Emergency Management in Taiwan 175

Disasters in Taiwan 175

Citizen Participation 189

Shafritz defines citizen participation as follows: 192

Public Managers, Citizen Participation, and Decision Making 192

The Importance of Citizen Participation 197

Models of Citizen Participation 199

Citizen Participation Dilemmas 205

Accountability 207

Definitions of Accountability 207

The Meaning of Accountability 208

The Functions of Accountability 213

Citizen Participation and Accountability 216

Accountability Overloads and Deficits 219

Assessing Accountability from Democratic, 224

Constitutional and Learning Perspectives 224

Emergency Management 229

Collaborative Management in Emergency Management 229

Stages of Emergency Management Policy and Citizen Participation Purposes 232

International Collaboration 235

Network in Emergency Management 236

Agranoff (2007) defines public networks as follows: 236

Trust in Emergency Management 237

Summary 238

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 239

Citizen Participation and Accountability 241

Citizen Participation 241

Citizen Participation and Accountability 244

Accountability for Finances 245

Accountability for Fairness 247

Accountability for Performance 248

Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors 250

The Theory of Benchmarking 250

Benchmarking for Improving Accountability 253

Summary 255

CHAPTER IV-METHODOLOGY 256

Introduction 257

Research Design 257

Population and Sample 262

Instrumentation 263

Construct Validity 264

Internal Validity 264

External Validity 265

Reliability 268

Data Collection Procedures 268

Statistical Analysis 269

Limitations of the Study 270

Summary 270

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 271

Introduction 271

Reliability of the Survey Questionnaire 271

Characteristics of the Survey Respondents 279

Descriptive Analysis of the Survey Responses 283

Citizen Participation 283

Organizational Accountability 285

Correlation Among the Research Variables 291

Inferential Analysis of the Survey Responses 291

The Relationship between Demographics and Level of Citizen Participation 293

The Relationship between Demographics and Citizens' Perception of Governments' Accountability 299

The Relationship between Demographics and Citizens' Perception of Governments' Response 305

The Relationship between Level of Citizen Participation and Citizens' Perception of Governments' Accountability 310

The Relationship between Level of Citizen Participation and Citizens' Perception of Governments' Response 312

A Comparison between Citizens' Perception of the Taiwanese Central and Local Governments 313

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 318

Summary of the Findings 319

Research Question 1 320

Research Question 2 322

Research Question 3 323

Limitations of the Study 326

Implications of the Study 326

Recommendations for the Taiwanese Governments 328

Recommendations for Future Research 331

Contribution to Public Administration 331

Conclusions 334

References 335

Endnotes 359

Introduction

Shafritz defines emergency management as: [1: Shafritz, J.M. (2004). The dictionary of public policy and administration. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.]

Actions taken to prepare for, prevent, or lesson the effects of natural (such as floods and tornadoes) and human (terrorism) disasters. Since 2001, emergency management has taken on a new sense of urgency and has been given significant new resources with advent of the war and terrorism. (p. 101)

Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola indicate, "Emergency management is an essential role of government" (p. 2). Emergency management is a task that the whole world has to face. Natural disasters visit us unannounced from time to time, like the earthquake in Japan, Haiti, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Human disasters like 911 emerge now and then as well. How governments and public administrators deal with emergencies poses a challenge, and it takes coordination and collaboration from all sides concerned to make a peaceful transition from a chaotic situation back to normal life. [2: Haddow, G., Bullock, J., & Coppola, D. (2008). Introduction to emergency management (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier.]

Like the rest of the world, the country of Taiwan finds itself regularly facing natural disaster and the aftermath of these events. Chen, Wu, and Lai indicate, "In the past 60 years, natural disasters have killed more than 9,000 people and destroyed more than 541,000 buildings in Taiwan" (p. 633). These disasters also caused enormous economic losses. Therefore, emergency management is not only important to the Taiwanese government but also significant to the Taiwanese citizens. [3: Chen, L., Wu, J., & Lai, M. (2006). The evolution of the natural disaster management system in Taiwan. Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, 29(4), 633-638.]

When disasters occur, local and central governments often evade their accountability. Keehley and Abercrombie define accountability as "the principle that individuals and organizations are responsible for their actions. When actions and decision appear questionable, the public...

162).Governments is expected to become more accountable to citizens (Barata, Cain, Routledge, & Wamukoya, 2002). McDavid and Hawthorn (2006) indicate, "Canadian and American governments at the federal, provincial (or state), and local levels are increasingly emphasizing the importance of accountability for program outcomes" (pp. 5-6). The degree to which citizens trust the public and nonprofit sectors carries significant consequences. More generally, a loss in governmental accountability often results in the replacements of elected officials and decreased public support for governmental projects. Likewise, a loss in accountability in the nonprofit sector results in development projects, which are more difficult to accomplish. Accountability and transparency are directly linked to perceptions of trust (Keehley & Abercrombie, 2008). Hrebiniak argues, "Without clear responsibility and accountability, execution programs will go nowhere. Knowing how to achieve this clarity is central to execution success" (p. 25).Keehley and Abercrombie state, "The general public has proven repeatedly that they are willing to support the public and nonprofit sectors with their money -- if they can count on those organizations to be accountable. Unfortunately, too often the public trust is damaged" (p. 161). [4: Keehley, P., & Abercrombie, N. (2008). Benchmarking in the public and nonprofit sectors: Best practices for achieving performance breakthroughs (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.] [5: Hrebiniak, L.G. (2005). Making strategy work.Upper Saddle River: NJ: Wharton School.] [6: Keehley, P., & Abercrombie, N. (2008). Benchmarking in the public and nonprofit sectors: Best practices for achieving performance breakthroughs (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.]
Consequently, the lack of accountability can be one of the reasons for a subsequent drop in public support for governments. If governments lose public support, it becomes increasingly difficult to implement governments' policies. Therefore, accountability is the primary focus of this study.

Citizens who have previously participated may also accept policies with which they disagree, because, according to Gamson, participation may create higher levels of trust. While research on participation as it correlates to levels of trust has been conflicting (Kweit & Kweit, 1981), recent research has connected a decline in citizen trust to a number of different policies that decrease the ability of citizens to participate in the public life of their communities (King & Stivers, 1998). Additionally, Putnam connects trust with public involvement. Focused specifically on disaster recovery, Berke, Kartez, and Wenger proposed a model of recovery based on the extent of a community's vertical integration -- which are the links between the community and other political, social, and economic factions outside the community -- and the extent of a community's horizontal integration -- the quality of relationships between social organizations within a community. The authors argue that while vertical integration alone can assist a community in expanding its capabilities by enabling it access to more resources, the community can use these resources to the fullest extent only if there is a sufficient amount of horizontal integration. Further, horizontal integration lends itself well to mobilizing citizens to participate in recovery efforts and decisions. [7: Gamson, W. (1968). Power and discontent. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.] [8: Putnam, R.D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.] [9: Berke, P.R., Kartez, J., & Wenger, D. (1993). Recovery after disaster: Achieving sustainable development, mitigation and equity. Disasters,17(2), 93-109.]

A perceived lack of accountability may cause a precipitous drop in public support for government. Without citizens' support, governments will find it very difficult to carry out emergency policies. Hence, citizen participation plays an important role between organizational accountability and emergency management.

The intent of this study was to investigate and explain the relationship between citizen participation and organizational accountability in Taiwanese central and local governments.

Background

Taiwanese System of Government

Taiwan is a multiparty democracy founded on the Taiwanese Constitution. Unlike the United States, citizens are subject to two levels of government: central and local government in Taiwan. The Taiwanese central government consists of the Office of the President and five Yuan: the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan, and the Control Yuan. The Taiwanese local government includes three levels of autonomous types: (a) special municipalities, (b) counties and provincial municipalities, and (c) county municipalities and townships.

Responsibility of Emergency Management in Taiwan

The Disaster Prevention and Protection Act were legislated in 2000 since the Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999. The Disaster Prevention and Protection Act consist of eight chapters and 52 articles. Although the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act has some rules for governments' disaster prevention, response, and recovery, there is no clear and definite responsibility for the Taiwanese central and local governments.

Disasters in Taiwan

Taiwan is a region rich in typhoons. During one regular summer, more than 12 typhoons can occur; and they can often cause disastrous effects. Ironically enough, the word "typhoon" means the deadly storm of Taiwan. The most recent typhoon in Taiwan, Morakot, is historically the most damaging.

The impacts of the typhoon are incommensurable in the short-term. In the Morakot Monsoon, there was a loss of over 600 lives and the loss of homes and of entire villages buried in the land or mudslides. Aside from the social aspect of the tragedy, the country faces the long-term economic impacts. The tourist industry, for example, is one…