Organizational resilience: What it is and what it isn’t? A review

Abstract

Organizational Resilience (OR) as a construct and as a socioeconomic challenge is gaining uprising attention. Yet, a better understanding of the term in terms of what it is and what it isn't is still far behind. The present study thus aimed at revisiting the definitions of OR for making clearer what it is and what it isn’t. As such, this research provides a review of scholarly sources of OR definitions. A desk review of scholarly publications of indexed journals was performed and analyzed qualitatively to reach a consensus about what the OR really is. The keyword search of “definitions of organizational resilience” resulted in articles falling within the range of 1990-2020. The selection of articles considered the scientific merit of the paper and as well the source. Both the identifying and distinguishing facets of definitions were reviewed qualitatively and presented. The findings indicate that OR is a multidimensional construct that possesses several features that distinguish it from other similar constructs such as adaptive capacity, ability to cope, recovery, crisis management, and buffer capacity. The results conclude that the OR is about an organizational philosophy comprised of diverse competencies to manage challenging environmental events in a continuous and progressive way. This organizational level core construct spells out how organizations can face adverse, complex, and uncertain events in a responsible and pro-active way. Implications suggest that any conceptualization or measures of OR should primarily centre on the long-term continuous process of meeting the challenging environmental occurrences rather than a set of discrete capabilities to respond to a devastating event.