Risk, the COVID-19 pandemic, and organisations: extending, repurposing, and developing theory

Emma Soane, Rhona Flin, Carl Mcrae and Tom W. Reader

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and changed organisations. While the pandemic has brought opportunities for business in some sectors, such as information and communication, and for people who enjoy the flexibility they gain from home-based or hybrid work arrangements, the realisation of benefits for individuals and organisations is uncertain over longer time periods and distributed unevenly across the workforce. Thus, the pandemic situation has been a trigger, albeit an unwelcome one, for revising our theorising about organisational risk. We build on the articles within our special section and develop a perspective on how to continue the development of new theoretical insights. First, we examine how existing theories can be extended to encompass organisational risk. We focus on theories of organisational culture to do so. Second, we discuss ways that existing theories can be repurposed to address important challenges. We illustrate our points using paradoxical leadership theory and theories of creativity. Third, we reflect on ways to develop new theorising by exploring multilevel modelling and the microfoundations of organisational risk. Fourth, we reflect on methods. In doing so, we pave the way for future studies that will enrich our understanding of organisational risk and contribute to preparations for future crises.

Keywords: Covid-19; coronavirus; research methods; culture; leadership; risk; microfoundations; creativity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2025-03-31
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 31, March, 2025, 98(1). ISSN: 0963-1798

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119765/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

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:ehl:lserod:119765

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().