Drivers and barriers for the adoption of hazard-resistant construction knowledge in Nepal: Applying the motivation, ability, opportunity (MAO) theory

Despite the recurring social, economic, and humanitarian costs, disaster affected populations repeatedly fail to Build Back Safer housing to protect themselves from future hazards. This paper seeks to understand how affected households interpret and intend to act upon hazard-resistant construction knowledge by assessing their motivation, ability and opportunity (MAO). We present a novel adaptation and application of the social scientific MAO model to the disaster risk reduction field by analyzing empirical data and debating how humanitarian technical assistance either inhibits or facilitates the intention to adopt. In two districts affected by the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes, nearly 1500 households were compared in 25 communities that received different intensities of humanitarian technical assistance to reconstruct safer housing. The application of the MAO model provides a novel understanding of intentions to reconstruct safer housing. Levels of motivation, ability and opportunity demonstrate both positive and negative impacts of technical assistance. Technical assistance did increase the self-efficacy and applicability of knowledge. Nevertheless, significantly lower were acceptability of the knowledge, perceived physical capacity and perceived opportunities to reconstruct. The case of Nepal, despite good intentions of humanitarian agencies, gives reason to rethink technical assistance approaches.