Purpose
Numerous prior studies highlight the importance of social media adoption (SMA) in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the disaster preparedness phase (DPP). However, in India, social media is underused by NGOs in their attempts to mitigate the adverse impact of the disaster. Therefore, this study aims to seek to empirically investigate the relationship between factors influencing the SMA in NGOs in the DPP in India.

Design/methodology/approach
The “Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE)” framework, integrated with organizational creativity (OC), forms the theoretical foundation of this study. Data were collected from 266 respondents representing 120 Indian NGOs using a seven-point Likert scale. To test the hypotheses, this study used a variance-based structural equation modeling technique.

Findings
The empirical findings show that relative advantage, organizational readiness (OR), top management support and government support positively influenced the SMA in NGOs during the DPP. However, compatibility and complexity do not affect the SMA. In addition, OC moderates the relationship between OR and SMA in NGOs. These results underscore the need for NGOs to develop an organizational culture that is more forward-thinking and technology oriented.

Originality/value
This study fills an important research gap in the literature by developing a research model designed to improve the SMA in NGOs during the DPP in India. Furthermore, the authors integrated OC into the TOE framework to develop and examine the relationship between factors that impact SMA.