Unpacking the behavioural pathways to organisational resilience: gendered pathways of organisational citizenship behaviour linking transformational leadership and resilience

Purpose This study aims to examine how transformational leadership is translated into organisational resilience through organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and whether these behavioural pathways differ by gender among administrative officers in Sri Lankan state universities. It moves beyond leader-centric explanations by positioning employee behaviour as a mechanism through which leadership becomes an organisational capability. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted using a structured five-point Likert-scale questionnaire administered through Google Forms. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed; 232 valid responses were obtained. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised relationships and OCB mediation, with separate structural models used to examine gender-based pathways. Findings Transformational leadership had no significant direct effect on organisational resilience for either gender, while its indirect effect through OCB was significant, indicating full mediation. Gendered differences emerged in pathway strength: transformational leadership had a stronger effect on OCB among male officers than female officers, whereas OCB had a stronger effect on organisational resilience among female officers than male officers. Environmental dynamism strengthened the OCB–resilience relationship among male officers but not female officers. Research limitations/implications For general managers, resilience-building should extend beyond transformational leadership to systems that enable, recognise and sustain knowledge sharing, collaboration, mutual support and proactive problem-solving, without making gender-based assumptions about individual capabilities. Originality/value The study advances a behavioural and gender-sensitive perspective by demonstrating that leadership translates into resilience through employee citizenship behaviour. It extends resilience research beyond leader-centric models towards a distributed, behaviourally enacted understanding of organisational resilience.