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How Much Do We Really Know About Employee Resilience?

Author

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  • Britt, Thomas W.
  • Shen, Winny
  • Sinclair, Robert R.
  • Grossman, Matthew R.
  • Klieger, David M.

Abstract

Past research purporting to study employee resilience suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity about both the resilience construct and the methodological designs that examine resilience without ensuring the occurrence of significant adversity. The overall goal of this article is to address our contemporary understanding of employee resilience and identify pathways for the future advancement of resilience research in the workplace. We first address conceptual definitions of resilience both inside and outside of industrial and organizational psychology and make the case that researchers have generally failed to document the experience of significant adversity when studying resilience in working populations. Next, we discuss methods used to examine resilience, with an emphasis on distinguishing the capacity for resilience and the demonstration of resilience. Representative research is then reviewed by examining self-reports of resilience or resilience-related traits along with research on resilient and nonresilient trajectories following significant adversity. We then briefly address the issues involved in selecting resilient employees and building resilience in employees. The article concludes with recommendations for future research studying resilience in the workplace, including documenting significant adversity among employees, assessing multiple outcomes, using longitudinal designs with theoretically supported time lags, broadening the study of resilience to people in occupations outside the military who may face significant adversity, and addressing the potential dark side of an emphasis on resilience.

Suggested Citation

  • Britt, Thomas W. & Shen, Winny & Sinclair, Robert R. & Grossman, Matthew R. & Klieger, David M., 2016. "How Much Do We Really Know About Employee Resilience?," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 378-404, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:inorps:v:9:y:2016:i:02:p:378-404_00
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Oana Branzei & Ramzi Fathallah, 2023. "The End of Resilience? Managing Vulnerability Through Temporal Resourcing and Resisting," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(3), pages 831-863, May.
    2. Peter G van der Velden & Ruud J A Muffels & Roy Peijen & Mark W G Bosmans, 2019. "Wages and employment security following a major disaster: A 17-year population-based longitudinal comparative study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Ania A Drzewiecka, 2023. "From Human Doing to Human Being – The Metacognitive Model for Well-Being Resilience in the Workplace," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(11), pages 1023-1048, November.
    4. Hassan Danaeefard & Atiye Sedaghat & Seyed Hosein Kazemi & Ahmadali Khaef Elahi, 2022. "Investment Areas to Enhance Public Employee Resilience during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Evidence from Iran," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 837-855, September.
    5. Galina Biedenbach & Thomas Biedenbach & Peter Hultén & Veronika Tarnovskaya, 2022. "Organizational resilience and internal branding: investigating the effects triggered by self-service technology," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 420-433, July.
    6. Rabindra Kumar Pradhan & Nrusingh Prasad Panigrahy & Lalatendu Kesari Jena, 2021. "Self-Efficacy and Workplace Well-Being: Understanding the Role of Resilience in Manufacturing Organizations," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 9(1), pages 62-76, January.
    7. Kothari, Brianne H. & Chandler, Kelly D. & Waugh, Andrew & McElvaine, Kara K. & Jaramillo, Jamie & Lipscomb, Shannon, 2021. "Retention of child welfare caseworkers: The role of case severity and workplace resources," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Martin Hoegl & Silja Hartmann, 2021. "Bouncing back, if not beyond: Challenges for research on resilience," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(4), pages 456-464, September.
    9. Parul Malik & Pooja Garg, 2018. "Psychometric Testing of the Resilience at Work Scale Using Indian Sample," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 43(2), pages 77-91, June.
    10. Sun Feihan & Granovskaya Olga & Miao Xumei & Ye Chongliang, 2023. "The Effect of Agglomeration Strategy on Rural Resilience from the Perspective of Homestay Tourism Operators," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 67(67), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Diego R. Toubes & Noelia Araújo-Vila & Arthur Filipe Araújo & José Antonio Fraiz-Brea, 2023. "Resilience and individual competitive productivity: the role of age in the tourism industry," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Ali E. Ahmed & Deniz Ucbasaran & Gabriella Cacciotti & Trenton A. Williams, 2022. "Integrating Psychological Resilience, Stress, and Coping in Entrepreneurship: A Critical Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 497-538, May.
    13. Jessica M. Nicklin & Emily J. Meachon & Laurel A. McNall, 2019. "Balancing Work, School, and Personal Life among Graduate Students: a Positive Psychology Approach," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(5), pages 1265-1286, November.
    14. Marjolein C. J. Caniëls & Simone M. J. Baaten, 2019. "How a Learning-Oriented Organizational Climate is Linked to Different Proactive Behaviors: The Role of Employee Resilience," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 561-577, June.

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