Resilient performance faced with a period of economic crisis: Integrated model of conceptions and research strategy

Abstract

Purpose: This study seeks to design an integrated model of concepts for research on organizational resilience in a period of economic crisis and synthesize strategy for an empirical approach. Originality/value: By recognizing economic recessions as crisis events, exogenous and recurrent, that challenge the evolutionary trajectory of the business environment and the adaptive capacity of firms, this study focuses on the convergence of scientific fields to unify the business cycle with characteristics and heterogeneous business dynamics from the perspective of resilience. Design/methodology/approach: Initially, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on “business cycle management” and “organizational resilience.” Next, we used various combinations and variations of the terms “economic crisis” and “resilience,” plus “management” and “performance” to expand the base of references from publications in relevant indexes. Thus, through research by authors from different areas of knowledge, the propositions raised here are based on the comprehensive and transversal assimilation of knowledge related to the context of economic crisis and the adaptive dynamics of organizations. Findings: This study organizes and reconciles convergences of scientific fields in an integrated model of concepts for studying organizational resilience throughout business cycles and synthesizes a research strategy with three analysis segments for an empirical approach. Thus, the findings cooperate with several streams of research that focus on the adversities faced by organizations in periods of recession and provide a broad prism of analysis, with significant space to explore the linkage of attributes and actions that favor or hinder the achievement of resilient performance in the face of a period of economic crisis.