Organizational resilience model in SMEs using management control systems: the case of the Saudi Arabian Economy

Abstract

While recently, academic and practitioner interest has turned to organizational resilience in SMEs, empirical research examining factors influencing resilience for SMEs remains sparse. This empirical research examines the role of organizational factors, including adaptive organizational culture, strategic HRM practices, and management control systems, as well as the individual factor of employee resilience in enhancing organizational resilience, among Saudi SMEs in a post-coronavirus context.Data was collected through as survey questionnaire from 330 SMEs operating in several industrial and service sectors, and PLS-SME was applied to analyze data. The results reveal the positive influence of adaptive organizational culture and strategic HRM practices on resilience at the employee and organizational level for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, employee resilience positively correlates with organizational resilience and is a significant or partial mediator of the association linking organizational factors to organizational resilience. Management control systems also moderate employee / organizational resilience links. The results offer senior and middle management in the Saudi SME an understanding of the importance of strategic HRM and adaptive organizational culture for enhancing resilience for employees and organizations and also point to the significance of management control systems for a strong link between employee-level and organization-level resilience.