Multiple paths to organisational capacity building in civilian rescue teams: evidence from a national survey in China

Existing research on civilian rescue teams (CRTs) has predominantly focused on their roles in and contributions to disaster governance, with comparatively limited attention paid to their own development and organisational capacity building (OCB). Strengthening OCB is essential for CRT development through the integration of internal resources and external support. Drawing on resource dependence theory and the resource-based view, this study develops an integrated theoretical framework to examine OCB in CRTs. Using descriptive statistics and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study analyses data from 816 teams across China through a national survey. The findings yield two key insights. First, the descriptive analysis documents substantial variation in the geographical distribution, organisational scale, and network integration of CRTs, providing the empirical context for examining their heterogeneous capacity building configurations. Second, and more significantly, the fsQCA results show that high OCB arises from configurations of internal and external resources. Some conditions are substitutable, whereas professional competence remains the core condition for absorbing and converting external resources into OCB. This research contributes to the literature on OCB in disaster management and offers practical implications for strengthening the development of CRTs.