Sociological and behavioural impediments to earthquake hazard mitigation Temitope Kikelomo Egbelakin and Suzanne Wilkinson Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavioural and sociological impediments to successful implementation of earthquake hazard mitigation and to recommend possible intervention strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered through a case study methodology and interviews adopted as the research strategy. A semi-structured questionnaire was chosen as a data-collection instrument, with 33 interviews conducted for various stakeholders involved in seismic retrofit decision-making process. Findings – The research main findings include the role of risk perception in diminishing earthquake hazard mitigation, difficulties in assessing benefits and values of seismic retrofit implementation and the hazard mitigation approach adopted by governmental organisations. The findings suggested that stakeholders involved in retrofit decision-making should have a good understanding of the risks faced as well as the implications of their decisions. Originality/value – The paper investigates earthquake hazard mitigation of commercial buildings at the stakeholders-level by adopting a multidisciplinary approach that incorporated decision sciences, policy perspectives and socio-behavioural perspectives. The findings highlight the significance of stakeholders approach to foster adequate mitigation of earthquake risks. Keywords Earthquakes, Decision making, Sociology, Behaviour, New Zealand Paper type Research paper Introduction Earthquakes are one of the world’s greatest disasters, generally regarded as an uncontrollable force of nature. However, unnecessary loss of lives, properties and social disruptions can be avoided or minimised. Loss of lives and minimising disruption can be achieved by appropriate implementation of mitigation decisions and actions. Implementing seismic retrofit of earthquake prone buildings (EPBs) is one of the many ways of reducing earthquake hazards. Although the global seismic community has placed emphasis on understanding the scientific nature of earthquakes, such as ground motion and movements, providing technical solutions as well as legislative means to ensure that earthquake hazard mitigation measures are implemented, these efforts have not yielded adequate success. Seismic retrofit implementation lags behind advances in scientific and engineering understanding. For instance, in New Zealand, Johnston et al. (2006) and Stevens and Wheeler (2008) established the prevalence of low response from owners to retrofit their EPBs. One of the reasons that implementation lags so far behind is that relatively little attention has been focused on how to enhance seismic retrofit implementation from a sociological and behavioural perspective. As a result, there remains an inadequate understanding of the impediments associated with The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1759-5908.htm IJDRBE 1,3 310 International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment Vol. 1 No. 3, 2010 pp. 310-321 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1759-5908 DOI 10.1108/17595901011080896