Toward a Comprehensive Behavioral Model of Hurricane Preparedness: The Protective Behavior Model

Although literature regarding hurricanes and human behavior has been growing, there is generally a paucity of research that considers comprehensive behavioral models in a severe weather hazards context, and the question of “why do some people choose to take hurricane preparedness actions, while others do not?” remains answered only in part. With regard to explaining and predicting human behaviors, it is common in disaster studies to use generic models developed for other purposes in another field. Not having a specific model built for a particular set of protective behaviors is problematic as it overlooks many critical factors that influence people’s intention to prepare for hurricanes. Consequently, the recommendations built on such incomplete models should also be questioned. This paper introduces a new comprehensive behavioral model, The Protective Behavior Model (PBM), which explains why people choose to engage in hurricane preparedness behaviors using constructs from 23 different theories in human behavior. After the PBM was initially constructed based on the review of critical literature, a Subject Matter Expert’s Validation was conducted, where five expert scholars in the field agreed to review the model and make recommendations to improve it. The review process was done through multiple rounds of comments and alteration of the model until the experts were satisfied with the final model.