Untangling the role of social and environmental practices in family business resilience

Purpose This article examines how social and environmental practices (SEPs) contribute to organizational resilience in family businesses (FBs). It investigates the mechanisms linking SEPs to resilience and the processes through which they help FBs withstand and adapt to disruption. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a semi-grounded qualitative single-case design centered on a large FB with a long-standing commitment to SEPs. Data were collected through 23 semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations across multiple industrial sites and secondary sources including CSR reports, governance documents, archives and internal publications. Findings SEPs are central to shaping the family firm’s resilience. They support reactive capabilities that protect employment, stabilize operations and mobilize resources quickly; proactive capabilities built through sustainable innovation, intergenerational preparedness and the institutionalization of SEPs; and reinforcing loops in which crisis-related learning strengthens SEPs, which in turn improve responses to future disruptions. The study introduces the concept of “SEP-driven organizational resilience”. Originality/value This study contributes to the sustainability–resilience literature by showing how SEPs concretely shape organizational resilience in FBs, rather than treating sustainability as a general orientation or outcome. SEPs become embedded in routines, governance and resource allocation, supporting both immediate responses to disruption and longer-term preparedness, and these dynamics reinforce one another over time. Set in a family firm from a developing economy, the study also clarifies how family involvement shapes SEP implementation and the handling of tensions between short-term constraints and long-term commitments.