Factors affecting organizational resilience in megaprojects: a leader–employee perspective

Purpose The increasingly uncertain and unstable factors in the internal and external environments of megaprojects lead to more potential crises and challenges, hence increasing the importance of improving organizational resilience. This study aimed to explore the effects of transformational leadership and employee self-efficacy on organizational resilience from a leader–employee perspective. Design/methodology/approach By combining the perspectives of leaders and employees, this study constructed a development mechanism of the organizational resilience of megaprojects. Organizational climate and organizational learning were selected as two organizational resources to study the mediating roles of leaders and employees. A partial least-squares structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses based on data collected from 243 respondents. Findings Results show that transformational leadership and employee self-efficacy positively affect organizational resilience and organizational resources. Organizational learning positively mediates the effects of leader–employee factors on organizational resilience, whereas organizational climate does not. Originality/value This study verifies the positive role of transformational leadership and employee self-efficacy in organizational resilience and reveals the development mechanism of using organizational resources to build organizational resilience. This paper enlightens project managers and employees on how to well respond to the uncertainty and complexity of megaprojects.