An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Institutional Resilience and Recovery: An Annotated Bibliography of Conceptual and Methodological Approaches for Measurement
Published
Author(s)
Kelly Anderson, Maria Dillard
Abstract
This annotated bibliography synthesizes findings from 37 empirical studies on institutional resilience and recovery across diverse disciplines, hazards, and organizational contexts. Institutions such as governance, education, and healthcare depend on organization to deliver critical social functions, yet disasters like Hurricane Katrina reveal how institutional breakdowns can amplify risk. Despite growing attention, organizational resilience research remains fragmented, with varied definitions, limited consensus on core components, and a disproportionate focus on private-sector organizations. To address these gaps, studies published between 1980 and 2022 were systematically identified, screened, and annotated using a structured framework capturing definitions, methods, theoretical engagement, sector, disruption type, and findings. Results indicate heavy reliance on survey data, limited attention to long-term recovery trajectories, and consistent evidence that investment in human resources strengthens resilience. By providing a transparent, reproducible review, this bibliography highlights areas of convergence, divergence, and opportunity, supporting the development of standardized measures and practical assessment tools.
Anderson, K.
and Dillard, M.
(2026),
Institutional Resilience and Recovery: An Annotated Bibliography of Conceptual and Methodological Approaches for Measurement, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2390, https://nps-ext.nist.gov/nps/nps_public_api/api/Publication/file/960940 (Accessed October 24, 2026)