Benefits, Causing Factors and Barriers of Resilient University: A Phenomenological Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA in Educational Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Birjand, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Birjand, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Birjand, Iran

Abstract

Background: Universities operate in competitive and unstable conditions. In these constantly changing conditions, it is necessary for universities to improve their resilience so that they can deal with unexpected situations effectively, manage crises well, and ensure future success. Relatively many researches have investigated organizational resilience, but less attention has been paid to the resilient university. In the changing conditions of the society, universities need to pay attention to the indicators needed for resilience in order to survive and maintain their current conditions.
Aim: The aim of the current research is to investigate the academics' perception of the benefits, factors and obstacles of university resilience.
Methods: The research design was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The study population was all the faculty members and employees of Birjand University (Iran), who were selected and interviewed by purposive sampling in the number of 23 people (13 faculty members and 10 employees). After the 14th interview, the theoretical saturation of the data was achieved, but due to the validity of the data, the interview process continued until the 23rd person. Data analysis was done using Collaizi's seven-step strategy and MAXQDA software.
Results: Three main axes of benefits, enabling factors and barriers to resilience have been identified: The axis of the benefits of academic resilience with two main themes, moving in the direction of the university's mission and improving society's conditions and eight sub-themes; the axis of the factors that create academic resilience including five main axes, moral and personality characteristics of the group members, efficient management, extra-organizational factors, physical factors, forecasting and planning, and twenty sub-themes; and the axis of university resilience barriers with three main themes of individual characteristics level, organizational characteristics level and extra-organizational level and thirteen sub-themes have been proposed and explained.
Conclusions: The results can be used to strengthen university resilience. The construction and validation of a university resilience training package and a resilient university scale are recommended in future researches.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Qualitative Research in Behavioral Sciences (QRBS)
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Serial Number 4
September 2023
Pages 1-14

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History

  • Receive Date: 25 March 2023
  • Revise Date: 03 November 2023
  • Accept Date: 18 February 2024

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