Modelling organizational resilience structure: insights to assess resilience integrating bounce-back and bounce-forward

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to model organizational resilience structure. Based on the central insights of the scientific literature, organizational resilience is modelled as the result of an organizational capacity to bounce- back and bounce-forward. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a quantitative empirical study to support the structural perspective of organizational resilience and investigate the relationships among the dimensions to test the above hypothesis by applying confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) methods. Findings – The results confirmed three models that could be adopted to assess organizational resilience. The first model endorsed endogenous positive interrelationship among all three dimensions. The second model indicated that bounce-back dimensions, i.e. network and leadership and culture, have endogenous effects. Only the leadership and culture dimension is positively associated with a bounce-forward, i.e. change-ready and learning dimension. And the third model demonstrated that the network dimension is linked to leadership and culture, which is linked to the change ready and learning dimension. Originality/value – This study attempts to provide empirical evidence identifying the links between the bounce-back and bounce-forward stages of organizational resilience. These results contribute to the development of organizational resilience theory, confirming the conceptual statements that resilience is the ability to return to the routine and to adapt to the changing environment by overcoming dynamic events, stressing the idea of the importance of enhanced learning capacity, which allows for growth by constantly learning from oneself by gaining unique experiences.