Crisis Management Literature Research Articles

Financial performance of emerging market companies during the COVID-19 pandemic: moderating role of sustainability performance

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether sustainability performance (SP) served as a safeguard for firm profitability (FP) and enhanced corporate resilience in emerging markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 1,091 firms in 25 emerging markets from 2017 to 2021, this study analyses the moderating role of SP on the relationship between FP and COVID-19 by using hierarchical linear modelling at three levels: (a) time-level; (b) firm-level; (c) country-level. Findings The results indicate that during the years 2020–2021, emerging market firms with robust SP showed better FP in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also indicate that all dimensions of sustainability, i.e. environmental, social and governance (ESG), have significantly affected the FP in the post-COVID period. Hence, adhering to ESG principles aids in alleviating adverse financial repercussions during times of crises. Practical implications This study provides valuable insights for companies and policymakers for finding solutions that may assist them in improving SP globally and enduring crises resiliently. The findings are also relevant to institutional investors that consider SP as an investment criteria. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was temporary, the lessons learned could protect firms from future similar global crises. Originality/value This study enhances the understanding of the contingency relationship between sustainability and financial performance by offering up-to-date empirical insights within the context of emerging markets during the pandemic. It demonstrates how different institutional frameworks influenced the SP–FP association during the crisis. Thus, this paper expands the understanding of crisis management literature and bridges the research void concerning the impact of SP on FP in an emerging market context.

From Disruption to Continuity: Understanding Organizational Resilience Strategies in the Face of Technological Change

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, organizations face significant challenges that can disrupt their operations, supply chains, and overall stability. This study examines how organizations manage technological disruptions by exploring the resilience strategies they employ and evaluating their effectiveness across different industries and organizational contexts. Drawing on resilience theory, crisis management literature, and organizational studies, the research adopts a mixed-methods approach that includes in-depth case studies, qualitative interviews with industry experts, and quantitative analysis of organizational performance data. The primary objectives of this study are to identify key resilience strategies, assess their effectiveness in diverse organizational settings, and determine the factors that influence successful implementation. By integrating insights from real-world examples and theoretical frameworks, the research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how organizations can better prepare for and respond to technological disruptions. The findings are expected to reveal critical implementation factors such as leadership support, organizational culture, and resource allocation, which are essential for fostering a resilient organizational environment. Ultimately, this study offers actionable recommendations for practitioners seeking to enhance their resilience capabilities. These recommendations will serve as a guide for developing robust resilience strategies, cultivating a culture of adaptability, and overcoming challenges associated with technological disruptions. The study contributes to the broader discourse on organizational resilience, providing valuable insights for both academic research and practical application in an increasingly uncertain technological environment.

Better-prepared to face COVID-19: Organizational learning from SMEs’ experience with banking crises

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes whether experiencing a banking crisis influenced firms’ performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the organizational learning and crisis management literature, we hypothesize that firms with banking crisis experience may learn from it and, thus, have a greater capacity to react and adapt to future external crises through adequate adaptative mechanisms. Using a survey sample of over 31,000 small- and medium-size enterprises operating in 39 countries, we obtain results consistent with our hypothesis that firms with banking crisis experience coped better during the pandemic than other firms. This finding is observed regardless of the severity of the banking crisis episode or how long ago the banking crisis occurred. We further demonstrate that banking crisis experience’s positive impact is explained partly by the increase in human resource slack before the pandemic as a coping strategy.

How Do Crises Affect Policy Subsystems? The Evolution of Policy Core Beliefs in the EU Asylum Policy

AbstractCrises, shocks, and perturbations are frequently considered turning points in public policy literature. The Advocacy Coalition Framework has become one of the most employed policy process frameworks, focusing on policy subsystems, belief systems and shocks as one of the drivers of policy change. Relying on a network approach, this article aims at analysing the EU asylum policy by exploring the prioritisation of policy core beliefs before, during and after the so‐called refugee crisis. From a methodological perspective, discourse network analysis (DNA) is employed. The results show that the system of policy core beliefs has not stabilised in the aftermath of the crisis, implying a ‘conservative’ crisis response approach and short‐term effects on the policy subsystem. The innovation of this article stands on the theoretical–analytical elaborations of some crisis management and public policy literature core concepts and the empirical testing of said concepts through an original dataset with DNA.

Effect of Crisis Leadership on Performance of SMEs During Covid-19 Pandemic in Nairobi County, Kenya

The relationship between crisis leadership and organizational success amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the context of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nairobi County, Kenya, remains understudied. This study aimed to address this gap by investigating the impact of crisis leadership on SME performance during the pandemic. Employing a descriptive and correlational research design, data were collected from 237 respondents representing various SME industries in Kenya through a stratified random sampling method and a questionnaire. Analysis of the data using SPSS version 23 revealed significant findings. Firstly, crisis management was found to be positively correlated with safeguarding the reputation of organizations, which in turn can influence long-term sales and profits positively. Secondly, there was a significant linear relationship between crisis leadership and SME performance, with crisis leadership explaining 56.2 percent of the variance in performance. Additionally, the intercept between crisis leadership and performance showed improvement, underscoring the importance of effective crisis leadership in enhancing organizational outcomes. In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of crisis leadership in ensuring business continuity and mitigating the impact of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It emphasizes the need for leaders to possess the requisite skills, knowledge, and abilities to navigate turbulent times successfully. Furthermore, the study underscores the role of SMEs in developing strong leadership capabilities to enhance performance and mitigate potential crisis-related disruptions. It recommends that executive and management teams within SMEs in Nairobi County focus on strengthening leadership competencies and developing organizational guidelines for effective crisis management across various operational domains. Implementing these recommendations enables SMEs to enhance their crisis preparedness and responsiveness, thus fortifying their continuity and bolstering overall performance amidst adversities. This study enriches the crisis management and organizational resilience literature, especially within the SME domain, offering pertinent insights for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.

Toward a campus crisis management system amid the pandemic and beyond

This study develops artifact and design principles for a campus-wide crisis management system amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Drawing upon crisis management literature and the uncertainty reduction theory, we develop a preliminary crisis management system with three fundamental components: dashboard, portal, and forum, geared toward aggregating environmental information, expert knowledge, and stakeholder insights. This immediate, integrated, and interactive campus crisis management system aims to promote organizational learning through knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and utilization while reducing stakeholders’ uncertainty about the crisis. Through comprehensive evaluation, we further synthesize and summarize new design principles for prospective artifacts, including constructing a distributed crisis management network, capitalizing on data mining and knowledge discovery algorithms, and developing the adaptability of the crisis management system in various circumstances.

Actualizing novel trajectories: Chronological and kairotic improvisations

AbstractThe role of first responders during extreme crisis events consists of improvising under time pressure to retain control of the unfolding situation and mitigate harmful effects to help organizations restore their ‘normal’ functioning. This pervasive view of crises as cosmologic events obscures their transformational dimension and their long‐term positive outcomes. In this article, we explore how actors respond to time pressure and vital stakes while identifying and actualizing a novel trajectory. They improvise to overcome limitations, create, and enact a desirable future to seize an opportunity that arises due to unexpected surprises. We argue that the actualization of novel trajectories relies on a combination of the enactment of a duplicate temporality that combines the chronological time‐pressure of the unfolding event and kairotic time, in which critical decisions and actions actualize the desired future. Our contributions to the crisis management literature are twofold. First, we conceptualize chronological and kairotic improvisation practices to acknowledge that crisis response is not only about acting quickly but also about doing the right thing at the right time. Second, we shed light on crises as ‘cosmologic’ events, showing that they can be a point of origin for long‐term positive outcomes. Finally, we advocate for a deeper and fine‐grained consideration of time and temporality to advance crisis management studies.

Crisis response in an era of Knightian uncertainty

The unique impacts to businesses of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine exemplify the need for decision-makers to be prepared not just for foreseeable risks, but those which cannot be anticipated in advance. A century after Knight’s landmark work, this manuscript views crisis management literature through the lens of Knightian uncertainty. Firms and their partners commensurate events, as part of creating an appropriate cognitive framework to understand them. This forms the foundation of sense-making, and the transition from analogical reasoning to experiential learning. A firm’s ability to implement its response depends on flexibility and redundancy in resources, organizational structure, and interorganizational network.

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for employment and government accountability: evidence from an emerging market

PurposeThis study analyses the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on government accountability regarding the employment of both national and migrant workforces by bringing evidence from an emerging market. In doing so, this study addresses if/how the government discharged its accountability to the public during this recent global health crisis, which started in late 2019, with its effects still being felt today.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a close reading of the relevant news media (local and international), published research and official reports, as well as ten conversations with business managers to analyse the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on government accountability in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study draws on insights from public choice theory in trying to understand why some governments take an economic perspective while exercising accountability to their population during the pandemic.FindingsIt was found that COVID-19 led the government to pursue plans for the localization of the professions and increase employment rates among nationals vs. foreigners or migrant workers. The crisis was exploited by the government to achieve macro socio-political and economic goals, demonstrating its accountability to citizens, rather than foreign workers. This shift shows that difficult and exceptional circumstances can present opportunities for policymakers in emerging markets to achieve national policy and political aims.Originality/valueThis study enhances the author’s understanding of accountability during crises (i.e. crises-induced accountability) in emerging markets. The analyses presented enrich the crisis management literature by highlighting the implicit actions of national leaders that affect the lives and well-being of their constituents, especially vulnerable groups.

Crisis Management and the Organisational Learning of Local Travel Agencies: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The travel agency, as an important player in the tourism industry, has been largely ignored in current crisis management literature. Based on 28 in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study explored the crisis management strategies employed, and the organizational learning achieved, by Chinese travel agencies during two temporal stages (lockdown and post-lockdown) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It not only identified five coping strategies but also revealed three lessons that Chinese travel agencies have learned during this period of disruption. Theoretically, this study extends the literature on crisis management and organizational learning from a micro perspective and acknowledges the temporal dimension as well as the importance of tour guides. Practically, the study provides implications that will assist travel agencies to deal with future crises, especially international health emergencies such as COVID-19.

Organisation of cross-sector collaboration and its influence on crisis management effectiveness among pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesTo investigate the organisation of cross-sector collaboration and how it influenced crisis management effectiveness among pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study designQualitative semi-structured interview study. MethodsPurposeful selection was used to obtain the study sample consisting of leaders and specialists from the pharmaceutical industry and wholesalers (n = 9), community pharmacy owners (n = 9), hospital pharmacy heads (n = 6), government agency directors and officials (n = 5) and advocacy organisation representatives (n = 2). Inductive content analysis was performed to examine the data from the semi-structured individual (n = 29) and paired (n = 2) interviews in March–May 2021. ResultsA new conceptual model was developed to describe the organisation of collaborative crisis management. Without a predefined crisis management organisation, cross-sector collaboration was organised based on previous collaboration structures, channels and relationships and through the establishment of issue-specific groups by government agencies as per legal mandates. Crisis dynamics and related issues guided the group formation and meeting frequency. Advocacy organisations and government agencies acted in bridging role between stakeholders. Shared knowledge among pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders enabled anticipation and preparedness during crisis; shared resources fostered maintenance of core functions; and shared problem-solving facilitated cross-sectoral solutions. ConclusionThis was the first study exploring cross-sector collaboration among pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders during a crisis. Sharing knowledge, resources and problem-solving increased the crisis management effectiveness. The study presented a new illustration of organising for collaborative crisis management and added knowledge about private-third sector collaboration and issue-specific groups to the cross-sector collaboration and crisis management literature.

Assessing the Impact of Covid-19 on the Labor Market of Armenia: A Forcasting Study

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to analyze and forecast the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market of Armenia. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of the article draws upon several key concepts relevant to labor market analysis. It incorporates elements from labor economics, macroeconomics, and crisis management literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of the COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: To analyze and predict the dynamics of labor market indicators, this study uses statistical analysis and modelling tools, including fundamental and technical analysis. Technical analysis involves components of the time series, such as trend, seasonality, dummy variables, cyclical components, and random components. Findings: The study revealed that labor market of Armenia has been severely affected by the COVID-19. The government's implementation of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus has led to significant job losses. The existing labor market policies and support programs in place before the pandemic proved inadequate in addressing the challenges posed by the crisis. Research, Practical & Social implications: The article offers empirical evidence and forecasting insights that can deepen understanding of the consequences of the pandemic on employment, sectoral dynamics, and labor market resilience. It provides policymakers with valuable insights into the specific challenges faced by the labor market due to the pandemic. Originality/value: Although there are analyses of how COVID-19 shocked the labor markets, the significance of this research is emphasized by its comparative analysis of the labor markets of countries on various levels of development.

The role of open government data and co-creation in crisis management: Initial conceptual propositions from the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, open government data (OGD) was often used as a valuable crisis management resource. Unfortunately, there is limited research that explores how OGD can be used during times of crisis as a crisis management tool. To ensure that OGD can be used effectively in future crises, there is a need to understand how it may be used and what benefits its usage may bring. This paper brings new insight into this topic by conducting a comparative exploratory case study of three Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries – Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia, where OGD was used at different levels to help manage different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this research, three contributions are made: (1) it integrates OGD into previous crisis management literature, offering new and initial conceptual propositions; (2) it demonstrates how OGD enables the co-creation of new services that create public value during times of crisis; and (3) it provides empirical examples of OGD-driven co-created services.

Learn to survive crises: The role of firm resilience, innovation capabilities and environmental dynamism

Exogenous crises, while disruptive, may also present learning opportunities that could affect a firm's viability and performance. In this study, we examine how exogenous crises can constitute learning opportunities and assess their impact on firm survival. In particular, we investigate the role of learning in response to exogenous crises and how firm resilience, innovation capabilities, and environmental dynamism influence this relationship. Drawing from crisis management and organisational learning literature, we propose that these factors can bolster the connection between learning from crises and firm survival. To test our hypotheses, we conduct a nuanced analysis using both regression analysis and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) on data from 249 Italian manufacturing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This approach allows us to simultaneously examine the impact of firm resilience, innovation capabilities, and environmental dynamism on the relationship between learning from crises and firm survival. Our findings offer theoretical and practical insights into the role of learning from crises in a firm's survival. They also highlight the importance of embracing learning opportunities in crisis situations and suggest that how firms deal with crises could be an opportunity to fine-tune their internal processes and thrive in the long run.

Assessing students’ learning during pandemic: responses to crisis period at Singapore’s higher education institutions

ABSTRACT This study presents reflections from accounting lecturers in Singapore on the challenges and opportunities of conducting assessments during the crisis period of COVID-19. We seek to answer the following research question: What were the responses of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Singapore to the pandemic to maintain order in the accounting course assessment? We interviewed ten lecturers representing higher education institutions in Singapore that offer undergraduates and diplomas in accounting. Drawing on chaos theory in crisis management literature, we elaborate our findings thematically in five areas: assessment policies, formative and summative assessments, the role of technology, academic integrity, and addressing students’ problems. Finally, we summarize our findings and conclude with lessons learned regarding accounting assessment in the crisis period.

Planned, improvised or resilience: Small business owner-managers’ perception and response to crises in crisis-prone environments

This article addresses a fundamental question concerning planning, improvisation and resilience in the context of crisis management and business continuity. We seek to explore when and how small business owner-managers respond to crisis situations and cope with associated challenges to their business operations. This question remains unresolved, despite substantial progress in the crisis management and small business literature, which still produces opposing empirical findings and theoretical arguments. While one view supports strengthening existing planned responses to crises; the other view argues and finds support for improvised responses. Drawing on inductive multiple-case study approach, we extend previous research on crisis management by focusing on its planned, improvised and resilience dimensions. The purpose is to provide empirical insights about owner-managers’ perception and response to crises in a crisis-prone environment and complement it with theoretical insights from normal accident and high reliability theories to have a balanced view of crisis management practices within small businesses. We found that crisis planning, improvisation and resilience that occurs simultaneously in the crisis management process is more valuable and enrich crisis management practices of small businesses. We conclude by proposing specific areas for future research in relation to crises and resilience in crisis-prone environment.

An Exploratory Study to Understand Nonprofit Organizations’ Crisis Leadership Competencies: A Portuguese Analysis on COVID-19

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the Nonprofit Organization’s (NPO) competencies and leadership in a crisis situation, specifically in the Portuguese NPOs during COVID-19. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, this article integrates crisis management literature with leadership literature. Highlighting the leadership perspective of both intermediate employees (technical director) and top management (executive director), this research aims to advance knowledge on the main organizational leadership competencies that NPOs need to have to better cope with crises. One hundred and seventy-four (174) NPOs representatives voluntarily participated in the study which involved a survey questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale for 23 items included in the questionnaire. Principal component analysis using varimax rotation was applied to reduce the number of variables. Reliability tests were performed to assess the items included in the questionnaire. Tests included test-retest reliability, Cronbach alpha, and split-half reliability coefficients. Results show that the most important factors that improve the capability of a NPO to cope with a crisis are: respond to all stakeholders through accountability, plan based on identification of vulnerabilities, and build a foundation of trust through communication. Additionally, it is possible to suggest that staff and top management perceive crisis and leadership competencies differently. It is possible to conclude, that these factors can be used as important lines of action to structure the sustainable development and planning of NPOs’ strategies of other similar crisis to come in the future. Findings, the implications of this work, and avenues for future NPOs crisis management and leadership research are addressed.

Enhancing international marketing capability and export performance of emerging market SMEs in crises: strategic flexibility and digital technologies

PurposeThis study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (ESMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. It also examines whether these ESMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISAs on international marketing capability.Design/methodology/approachBased on the international alliance and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility, the authors develop a conceptual model and empirically examine the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISAs, international marketing capability, export performance and adoption of digital technology. The authors collected survey data from 129 ESMEs located in Pakistan between May 2021 and August 2021 and tested the conceptual model with hierarchical-moderated regression analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISAs positively impacts on export performance of ESMEs in crises. Moreover, the authors found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs and export performance of ESMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs positively and international marketing capability.Originality/valueThe authors take strategic flexibility of ISAs in the context of the emerging market and how ESMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior ESMEs’ international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. In particular, the authors show that strategic flexibility of ISAs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of ESMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.

SMEs’ sustainable innovation performance during pandemic: impact of knowledge coupling and parallel-mediation of ambidexterity and market capitalising agility

ABSTRACT Covid-19 pandemic has caused crisis and uncertainty which adversely influenced innovation performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Innovation is a primary source of survival and growth in SMEs; therefore, this study aims to develop and empirically analyse conceptual model that sustains innovation performance of SMEs during the pandemic. This study integrates knowledge-based view (KBV) with a self-tuning model to examine Chinese manufacturing SMEs. Survey data of 306 responses were collected from the top and mid management and analysed through Smart-PLS 3. Results indicate a positive effect of knowledge coupling on innovation performance; besides, ambidexterity and market capitalising agility (MCA) positively mediate between knowledge coupling and SME innovation performance. This study contributes to KBV, self-tuning, strategy, innovation and crisis management literature. To practitioners, this study advises developing dynamic capabilities to sustain innovations during pandemic crisis. This is the earliest empirical examination to mediate the effect of knowledge coupling on innovation performance through ambidexterity and MCA during a crisis.

Are sustainable firms more profitable during COVID-19? Recent global evidence of firms in developed and emerging economies

PurposeThis paper investigates whether sustainability performance (SP) protects financial performance (FP) for firms in both developed and emerging economies during the COVID-19-induced economic downturn.Design/methodology/approachUsing a recent sample of firms in 34 countries between 2003 and 2021, the authors employ ordinary least squares regressions, moderations and the Heckman two-step method to test the hypotheses.FindingsFirms with strong SP have higher FP in developed and emerging economies in the upcoming year. During the COVID-19 crisis in 2020–2021, the impact of sustainability on FP is pronounced in developed but not in emerging economies. Furthermore, cross-listings expose firms in emerging economies to high-standard institutional mechanisms in developed economies. Thus, sustainable firms in emerging economies cross-listed on European stock exchanges are more profitable.Practical implicationsFor regulators and standard setters, the global-level comparative analysis helps them find solutions that may assist firms in improving SP globally (e.g. mandatory reporting) and enduring crises resiliently. For institutional investors, the study reveals the relatively different impact of sustainability risk for firms in developed and emerging economies. For practitioners and private sector firms, this study contributes to the dialogue on what makes firms more resilient in COVID-19. Although COVID-19 might be temporary, the lessons learned could protect firms from future crises.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the contingency perspective between sustainability and financial performance by providing recent empirical evidence in a global setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors demonstrate how different external institutional mechanisms (rule-based governance and relation-based governance) and cross-listing affect the SP-FP relationship during a crisis. The authors extend the knowledge in crisis management literature with a comparative study and fill the research gap on how SP affects FP for firms in emerging economies compared to developed economies.