Time Will Tell: Sequencing Institutional Logics to Aid Business Recovery after Natural Disasters

Existing research suggests a paradox regarding the effects of government sponsorship of local business recovery during natural disasters, where the largest provider of public resources has been associated with the poorest outcomes. To lend insight into this contradiction we develop a model of how the temporal sequencing of public and private relief organizations influence resource allocation and distribution mechanisms with different performance consequences for business recovery. We use interview, archival, and survey data on financial assistance to local market-based businesses in the context of Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas in 2008. Data analysis suggests that public and private relief organizations adhere to different institutional logics. Successful business recovery relies on the correct temporal sequencing of relief organizations with public (state logic) and private (community logic) resources. Whereas relief organizations operating under the state logic can more effectively guarantee resources, relief organizations operating under the community logic can more efficiently allocate and distribute resources. This model identifies a new concept, logic sequencing, and opens new research on the temporal sequencing of institutional logics under extreme events and societal grand challenges. It further suggests managerial and urban planning policy innovations regarding public-private partnerships for the market performance of business organizations in the aftermath of natural disasters.