| This qualitative case study examined protection of the maritime domain through interorganizational information sharing. The research problem was the lack of coordination and cooperation in information sharing and the lack of integration of resources between the sectors of the U.S. maritime domain. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how public and private maritime officials share maritime risk information and how such shared risk information contributes to maritime domain awareness. The research premise for this qualitative case study was that collaborative information sharing between the public and private sectors could enable a greater awareness of U.S. security risks within the maritime domain. Interorganizational coordination was the theory used to examine how the sharing of information could contributes to the protection of the maritime domain. The study consisted of a literature review, field test, and interviews. The interviews elicited the perceptions of public and private sector information sharing within the maritime domain from the viewpoint of seven participants from the Port of Baltimore in Maryland. Six themes related to interorganizational information sharing in the protection of the maritime domain were identified during the analysis of data. These themes include interpersonal relationships, information saturation, educate/understand port partner, and value of shared information, information sharing mechanisms, and incentive information sharing. The results of the case study detailed the importance of building interpersonal relationships between the entities of the maritime sector. Such relationships reinforce the value of interorganizational coordination and improve information sharing. There is an abundance of information sharing mechanisms, which contributes to saturation of information. Interpersonal relationships help to identify valuable information, identify appropriate responses to information, close possible gaps in the shared information, and improve the belief in the validity of shared information. The findings from this study could inform researchers of the perceptions of maritime homeland security practitioners. The findings could be used to improve interorganizational coordination and information sharing in the protection of the maritime domain. |
