How internal transparency impacts organizational resilience

Purpose Research on transparency has been concerned mainly with external transparency, leaving internal transparency understudied. In particular, there is a lack of empirical research on the relationship between internal transparency and organizational resilience. This paper aims at investigating how internal transparency impacts organizational resilience in a public entity. It also examines how (quality) management systems impact internal transparency, and thus organizational resilience. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on semi-structured interviews covering the relevant topics. A total of 32 interviews were undertaken between January and May 2018. Findings The findings indicate that internal transparency contributes to better preparedness to adverse conditions by enhancing the ability to cumulate, locate and share knowledge. Similarly, management systems improve internal transparency through the enhancement of communication flow, use of indicators and accretion of a database. Originality/value The paper is the first, as evident from the literature review, to investigate how internal transparency impacts organizational resilience. Hence, it sheds light on a very important aspect of the effective management of quality, risk and reliability. It is also one of the first papers to examine the mediating role of (quality) management systems in organizational resilience.