Resilience Pathways Toward Sustainability: A Configurational Approach

The two concepts of sustainability and resilience are often conflated in both research and practice. However, organizations that pursue sustainability may be fragile, and many resilient organizations are unsustainable. We first interrogate sustainability and resilience separately, and then examine how they interrelate in different organizational archetypes. This analysis yields a configurational approach, contingent on organizational and industrial characteristics. Specifically, we identify three distinct pathways toward resilience and sustainability: (1) An absorptive pathway that focuses on retaining sustainability practices while ensuring economic viability. (2) A transformative pathway that entails exploring new solutions to reimagine the business. (3) An adaptive pathway that progresses through incremental advances and small wins. We emphasize that only resilience pathways consistent with initial organizational configurations will effectively support sustainability; otherwise, they may lead to adverse outcomes. We contribute to the understanding of the interactions between sustainability and resilience, highlighting the importance of differentiated strategies to effectively address sustainability transitions.