Enhancing resilience in public sector business continuity: lessons from the Western Cape Government, South Africa

Gillian Lutz and Flip Schutte

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2025, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-25

Abstract: Resilience has become a critical capability for public sector organisations navigating increasingly complex and frequent disruptions. This study examines how the Western Cape Government (WCG) in South Africa conceptualised and operationalised resilience through its business continuity practices during successive crises, including COVID-19, the Day Zero water crisis, and ongoing electricity shortages. Using a qualitative case study approach that involves semi-structured interviews and document analysis, the research identifies key resilience-building mechanisms, including adaptive leadership, flexible continuity planning, cross-departmental collaboration, and institutional learning. The findings reveal that while business continuity planning provided essential operational scaffolding, true resilience emerged from the organisation's ability to adapt, learn, and respond dynamically to evolving threats. By integrating theoretical frameworks such as Linnenluecke's triadic model, ISO 22316, and the VUCA/BANI paradigms, the study provides a context-sensitive analysis of public sector resilience in a resource-constrained and politically complex environment. It contributes to the growing discourse on resilience by demonstrating how structured continuity planning must be complemented by strategic agility and psychological readiness to ensure effective governance in the Global South.

Keywords: adaptive leadership; business continuity; crisis management; governance in the Global South; institutional learning; public sector; resilience; Western Cape Government; WCG; South Africa. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=149032 (text/html)
Open Access

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijbcrm:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:1-25

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().