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.
