Twenty-third International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Resilience represents an important topic of investigation both in organizations and in interorganizational networks such as supply chains, being often achieved and enhanced through specific crisis management initiatives implemented by the focal organizations in relation to its stakeholders. The originality of our study stems not only from investigating resilience in an unprecedented context - a global pandemic, but also in relation to its subject, as the number and characteristics of relationships established between an online platform and its stakeholders are significantly different in comparison with those developed in independent organizations or networks. Using a combination of secondary (documents, reports, professional and academic papers) and primary (interviews with stakeholders, direct observation) data, we identify, analyze and discuss the specific crisis management actions implemented by Airbnb during the first wave of the COVID pandemic, in 2020. These actions are categorized and linked to the specific temporal periods that have marked the evolution of the pandemics. The resilience-enhancement outcomes of these initiatives are discussed and interpreted in relation to the performance of Airbnb platform and the opinion of the main category of stakeholders.