Self-organization's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in China

ABSTRACT

Self-organization was a key informal channel used to fight COVID-19 in Wuhan when the local government and other formal organizations failed to respond in the very early stages of the pandemic. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of self-organization during an emergency from both a demand-driven and a social mission identity perspective. Using 14 cases, this study examines the lifecycles of self-organization in alignment with the consistent changes in social demands. Volunteers' social mission identity and a flexible organizational structure have been identified as two major attributes of the outstanding performance of self-organization. Moreover, self-organization demonstrates a striking feature of noncontiguous service provision with the assistance of social media. This study extends the literature on the changing roles of governments and civil society to the emergency context.