Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Summer 7-13-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

August 2026

Department

Management Programs

College Granting Degree

College of Business

Department Granting Degree

Management Programs

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Mark Kohlbeck

Abstract

When faced with a natural disaster, small businesses remain largely outside the direct reach of federal assistance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that up to 65% of small businesses close within two years of direct impact by a hazard event. Despite this vulnerability, existing research has focused primarily on infrastructure and household recovery, leaving the small business sector underexamined. This study is the first to link county-level IRS income data, FEMA mitigation grants, and SBA disaster records to empirically evaluate whether federal pre-disaster mitigation spending and community social resilience moderate the relationship between disasters and small business recovery outcomes. Florida’s chronic hurricane exposure provided a natural context for evaluating federal disaster policy effectiveness.

The study tested whether cumulative pre-disaster mitigation grant funding and community social resilience each moderate the relationship between disaster exposure and small business income outcomes across three post-disaster recovery windows. A county-year panel spanning Florida’s 67 counties from 2009 to 2022 was constructed by integrating multiple federal administrative datasets. Panel regression was used to estimate moderated relationships across time and through subgroup analysis.

FEMA pre-disaster mitigation investment was associated with diminished income outcomes for small businesses after a disaster. The negative association emerged first among sole proprietors and was most sustained in coastal counties. Social resilience provided a modest short-term recovery benefit, concentrated in coastal and nonmetropolitan communities, but the effect dissipated over time. The study results suggest that FEMA’s current grant structure does not economically protect all segments of the communities it is intended to serve.

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