Innovation Management, Organizational Resilience, and Performance: Pathways to a Sustainable Future

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of a VUCA environment, continuous change has become the norm. At the organizational level, such change primarily involves process reorganization, the optimization of the operational scale, and the blurring of organizational boundaries—all of which intersect with the imperative of long-term sustainability. Correspondingly, organizations must adapt to digital innovations and technological complexity, embrace the need for systemic upskilling and capability renewal, and navigate new operational arrangements while making decisions about resource allocation and operational scope. Meanwhile, employees need to cope with labour intensity, robotisations and work–life balance challenges.

Given this ever-evolving and dynamic landscape, an organization’s effectiveness and capacity to thrive depend on its ability to withstand and adapt to significant challenges; that is, its organizational resilience. Organizational resilience is characterized by a developable capacity to rebound from adversity and flourish even amid challenging circumstances, serving as a cornerstone of sustainable organizational vitality. The existing literature argues that organizational resilience is vital in contemporary operational contexts; it is regarded as a desirable organizational attribute and critical competency that not only helps minimize the negative impact of disruptive events but also fosters positive operational attitudes and adaptive behaviors—all of which underpin sustainable performance. Regarding the employee level, resilience helps individuals bounce back and flourish at work. While organizational and employee resilience has gained increasing attention in the management literature in recent years, much work remains to advance our understanding of its nature. Moreover, given the significance of organizational and employee resilience and the recognition that they are systemic resources that can be developed, a key question emerges: how can they be enhanced? Although earlier research has highlighted the role of organizational practices in nurturing resilience, the integration of the principles of sustainability into such practices has remained somewhat neglected. For this reason, this Special Issue welcomes submissions of original research articles, case studies, and conceptual papers that address sustainability-aligned organizational practices, organizational resilience, and the role of sustainability dimensions in shaping resilient organizations. Potential topics encompass, but are not confined to, the following:

• The conceptualization of sustainability-aligned organizational practices aimed at building resilience;
• The conceptualization of organizational resilience;
• Conceptualizations of employee resilience as a stable structural trait, a state-like developable capacity, or a dynamic process;
• The nature of adversity at work—the types, intensity, and duration of adversity, and their links to sustainability challenges;
• The measurement of organizational and employee resilience in sustainability-focused contexts;
• The antecedents of resilience in operational settings, with a focus on sustainability-aligned practices;
• Operational demands and resource configurations in the context of building a resilient organization committed to sustainability;
• Job demands and resources in the light of building a resilient workforce;
• Resilience mechanisms—organizational responses and behaviors in the face of adversity, adaptive strategies, or systemic adjustments;
• The outcomes of organizational resilience, such as operational performance, resource efficiency, adaptive capacity, sustainability-aligned attitudes, and change readiness;
• Links between sustainability-aligned organizational practices and organizational resilience across diverse operational settings.

This Special Issue aims to generate theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence on designing and implementing sustainability-aligned organizational practices, addressing organizational resilience, and striving to ensure long-term organizational sustainability. This emerging research field encourages scholars from diverse disciplines to contribute by integrating ideas and insights across a range of issues in resilience, the incorporation of sustainability into organizational practices, and sustainable organizational development. 

Dr. Živilė Stankevičiūtė
Prof. Dr. Eglė Staniškienė
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• organizational resilience
• employee resilience
• organizational adversity
• operational adaptability
• sustainable organizational development
• sustainability-focused operations