PI: Dr. Marya Doerfel

The Katrina Project is a longitudinal study of New Orleans business and organization social networks. In this project we use in depth interviews and online surveys to gather data that help build an understanding of business, organization, and community recovery after disaster. Specifically, findings point to…

  • how interorganizational social networks (professional relationships with other organizations and businesses) in the area, the nation, and around the globe helped facilitate various types of organization and business recovery and rebuilding, and
  • how businesses and organizations reconnect to and make new connections with business and community partners as a way to return and rebuild.

The project’s design is longitudinal. In other words, we are tracking participating businesses and organizations over time in order to capture the changes and complexities the study participants face as attention, resources, and support to the Gulf Coast region wax and wane.