Organizations’ Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review of Business Articles

Olivier Boiral, Marie-Christine Brotherton, Léo Rivaud and Laurence Guillaumie
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Olivier Boiral: Department of management, Faculty of Business Administration, Laval University, Pavillon Palasis-Prince, 2325, rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Marie-Christine Brotherton: Department of management, Faculty of Business Administration, Laval University, Pavillon Palasis-Prince, 2325, rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Léo Rivaud: Department of management, Faculty of Business Administration, Laval University, Pavillon Palasis-Prince, 2325, rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Laurence Guillaumie: Faculty of Nursing, Laval University, Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, 1050, avenue de la Médecine, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-20

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze the early COVID-19 crisis management practices implemented in organizations based on a scoping review of relevant business articles published on this issue in newspapers and magazines between March and May 2020. In total, after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria on 2707 potentially relevant articles, 246 articles describing organizational initiatives to manage COVID-19 were selected and analyzed in detail. The results of this study highlight the opportunities and threats arising from the pandemic as well as the most innovative measures put in place, particularly in the areas of health, human resources management (HRM), work organization, social and environmental responsibility, and crisis management. The description of the main practices identified and their illustration through various examples show the importance of corporate sustainability in managing the pandemic and demonstrate the cross-cutting nature of this crisis, which affects most corporate functions simultaneously. This study also makes it possible to identify certain leaders’ approaches that can be considered exemplary or, in contrast, that should be avoided, while highlighting the paradoxes and difficulties of assessing corporate social responsibility in times of crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; corporate sustainability; crisis management; best practices; scoping review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3993-:d:529594

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