Unpacking resilience of project organizations: A capability-based conceptualization and measurement of project resilience

Abstract

Characterized by involvement of multiple stakeholders and temporary nature, projects can be risky and coupled with unexpected events and uncertain situations. Projects, as a common form of temporary organizations, require resilience capabilities that enable them to cope with unexpected events, recover from disruptions and crises, and adapt to external environments for effective project delivery. However, there is little consensus about what project resilience means and how it is composed. This study aims to unpack the concepts of project resilience capabilities and explore core dimensions and indicators to measure it. Drawing upon a capability-based view, project resilience capabilities are conceptualized as the abilities of project organizations to organize under a variety of scenarios, including disruptions in the form of shocks and stressors and adapt in a changing environment. Three main aspects of project resilience capabilities were identified inspired by a dynamic process-based thinking, anticipation, coping, and adaptation capabilities. A total number of 21 dimension with 74 indicators are then developed to formulate a measurement tool. Based on the conceptualization of project resilience capabilities in the project organizing domain, this study is considered as an important step to extend the idea of organizational resilience capabilities and add knowledge towards the project resilience literature.