Abstract
In this study, we show that institutional influences are stronger than technical ones in predicting the cross-national diffusion of standards on disaster preparedness. We examine the adoption of the first global disaster risk reduction standard, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), in 186 countries from 2005-2015. Although practical accounts emphasize the technical benefits of the framework in mitigating potential harm and damage, surprisingly, these explanations do little to explain country-level adoption – even when a nation has recently experienced a disaster. Thus, we test and find strong support for an alternative explanation, which draws on the influence of organizational sociology: that institutional influences are the primary driver diffusion of global standards. Specifically, the enduring effects of historical legacies play a particularly important role in adoption. Taken together, our results suggest that preparedness against natural disasters is a culturally mediated practice. A practical implication of our work is that many of the countries most in need of disaster preparedness may, at present, be the least prepared."