Interplay of Resources and Institutions in Improving Organizational Resilience of Construction Projects: A Dynamic Perspective

Abstract

The increasing number of destructive events, such as natural disasters and social public events, may result in project delays and impair project performance. Accordingly, building and enhancing the organizational resilience of construction projects is a priority for construction organizations. This study seeks to advance this literature by exploring the combination of conditions to enhance resilience from resource and institutional perspectives. Specifically, resource-based theory and institutional theory are used to identify factors that affect the organizational resilience of construction projects, and fifteen representative Chinese projects are selected. A conditional combination is explored to build organizational resilience from pre-crisis and post-crisis perspectives and make a comparative analysis. Results show that institutional factors dominate the construction of proactive organizational resilience, whereas resource factors play a major role in enhancing reactive organizational resilience. Organizational norms are the main guarantee for the crisis response of construction projects whether before or after a disaster. This study contributes to understanding the dynamic changes of organizational resilience in construction projects. The findings provide a basis for enhancing organizational resilience, focusing on crisis preparedness and recovery efforts to respond to frequent and unexpected challenges.

Keywords:

• Organizational Resilience
• Construction Project
• Resource-Based Theory
• Institutional Theory
• Pre-Crisis
• Post-Crisis

EMJ Focus Areas:

• Program & Project Management
• Organization Development & Change
• Engineering Management Profession

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional Information

This paper contributes: First, this study is innovative in method. We break through the previous static researh methods and adopt a dynamic approach to improving the organizational resilience of construction projects. Second, this study examines the organizational resilience of construction projects from the perspectives of resources and institutions and provides an extension of resource-based theory and institutional theory for the development of organizational resilience. Third, from the industrial perspective, proactive and reactive organizational resilience in the supply chain are extended to the field of engineering project management, with a focus on improving the organizational resilience of construction projects.

An Engineering Manager can use this paper to improve organizational resilience from the perspectives of resources and institutions. In daily work, engineering managers strengthen the institutionalized management model, set the rules to control, guide the organization’s behavior within the project, and enhance the members’ norm recognition. Engineering managers can build a unified project collaborative platform, information sharing and knowledge creation among organizations can be promoted. This collaborative platform can help organizations gain better crisis response capabilities.

Additional information

Funding

The Planning Foundation of Ministry of Education of China [21YJA630087].

Notes on contributors

Dedong Wang

Dedong Wang is an Professor of School of Management Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, Shandong, China. His research interest areas are project management, construction management, contractual governance, relational governance and project supply chain management. He has been involved in quite a few construction projects in China as a researcher and consultant since 2010. He has written papers in the area of construction project management and governance.

Yan Wu

Yan Wu is a Master of the School of Management Engineering at Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, Shan dong, China. Her research interest areas are megaproject management and project governance. She has been working as a research assistant in the School of Management Engineering at Shandong Jianzhu University.

Kangning Zhang

Kangning Zhang is a Master of the School of Management Engineering at Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, Shandong, China. His research interest areas are constructive deviance, relational governance and project management. He has had papers published in construction project constructive deviance and elsewhere.