IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v388y2026ics0277953625010950.html

Learning from crisis: Enduring habits as foundations for healthcare resilience after COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Pedersen, Kirstine Zinck

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about profound disruptions in healthcare organizations worldwide, reshaping management structures, professional practices, and core responsibilities. While much research has examined how healthcare systems adapted during the crisis, less is known about how such disruptions translate into longer-term organizational learning. This paper investigates whether and how the experiences from the pandemic led to enduring forms of learning within healthcare systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedersen, Kirstine Zinck, 2026. "Learning from crisis: Enduring habits as foundations for healthcare resilience after COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:388:y:2026:i:c:s0277953625010950
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118764
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625010950
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118764?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martha S. Feldman, 2000. "Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(6), pages 611-629, December.
    2. Turner, Simon & Higginson, Juliet & Oborne, C. Alice & Thomas, Rebecca E. & Ramsay, Angus I.G. & Fulop, Naomi J., 2014. "Codifying knowledge to improve patient safety: A qualitative study of practice-based interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 169-176.
    3. Duvald, Iben & Obel, Børge & Lohse, Cecilie & Kirkegaard, Hans & Burton, Richard M., 2025. "Organizational resilience in emergency healthcare: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in five Danish hospitals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    4. Mesman, Jessica, 2009. "The geography of patient safety: A topical analysis of sterility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1705-1712, December.
    5. Brian T. Pentland & Martha S. Feldman & Markus C. Becker & Peng Liu, 2012. "Dynamics of Organizational Routines: A Generative Model," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(8), pages 1484-1508, December.
    6. Greenhalgh, Joanne & Flynn, Rob & Long, Andrew F. & Tyson, Sarah, 2008. "Tacit and encoded knowledge in the use of standardised outcome measures in multidisciplinary team decision making: A case study of in-patient neurorehabilitation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 183-194, July.
    7. Maddalena Gambirasio & Demetrio Magatti & Valentina Barbetta & Silvia Brena & Giordano Lizzola & Chiara Pandolfini & Francesca Sommariva & Anna Zamperoni & Stefano Finazzi & Silvia Ivaldi, 2023. "Organizational Learning in Healthcare Contexts after COVID-19: A Study of 10 Intensive Care Units in Central and Northern Italy through Framework Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-19, September.
    8. Mikael Ohrling & John Øvretveit & Mats Brommels, 2021. "Can management decentralisation resolve challenges faced by healthcare service delivery organisations? Findings for managers and researchers from a scoping review," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 30-41, January.
    9. Linda Argote & Ella Miron-Spektor, 2011. "Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1123-1137, October.
    10. Myers, Christopher G. & Rosen, Michael A. & Yuan, Christina T., 2021. "What a pandemic reveals about learning in health care organizations," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1-2), pages 126-129, June.
    11. Davide Nicolini, 2011. "Practice as the Site of Knowing: Insights from the Field of Telemedicine," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 602-620, June.
    12. Ikujiro Nonaka & Georg von Krogh, 2009. "Perspective---Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 635-652, June.
    13. Wu, Frances & Dixon-Woods, Mary & Aveling, Emma-Louise & Campbell, Anne & Willars, Janet & Tarrant, Carolyn & Bates, David W. & Dankers, Christian & Mitchell, Imogen & Pronovost, Peter & Martin, Graha, 2021. "The role of the informal and formal organisation in voice about concerns in healthcare: A qualitative interview study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    14. Brummell, Stephen P. & Seymour, Jane & Higginbottom, Gina, 2016. "Cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions in the emergency department: An ethnography of tacit knowledge in practice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 47-54.
    15. ., 2021. "Learning from the crisis," Chapters, in: Sustainable Consumption, Production and Supply Chain Management, chapter 3, pages 15-21, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Christopher Ansell & Eva Sørensen & Jacob Torfing, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic as a game changer for public administration and leadership? The need for robust governance responses to turbulent problems," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 949-960, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vinit Desai & Peter Madsen, 2022. "Take Your Time? How Activity Timing Affects Organizational Learning and Performance Outcomes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(5), pages 1707-1723, September.
    2. Sangyoon Yi & Thorbjørn Knudsen & Markus C. Becker, 2016. "Inertia in Routines: A Hidden Source of Organizational Variation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 782-800, June.
    3. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 1119-1154, September.
    4. Niki A. den Nieuwenboer & João Vieira da Cunha & Linda Klebe Treviño, 2017. "Middle Managers and Corruptive Routine Translation: The Social Production of Deceptive Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 781-803, October.
    5. Nathalie Lazaric & Loubna Echajari & Dorota Leszczyńska, 2025. "The Multiplicity of Paths to Sustainability, Grand Challenges and Routine Changes: The Long Road for Bordeaux Winemakers," GREDEG Working Papers 2025-27, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    6. Chu, Wenyi & Baxter, David & Liu, Yang, 2025. "Exploring the impacts of generative AI on artistic innovation routines," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    7. Paola Perez-Aleman, 2011. "Collective Learning in Global Diffusion: Spreading Quality Standards in a Developing Country Cluster," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 173-189, February.
    8. Anne Kokkonen & Pauli Alin, 2015. "Practice-based learning in construction projects: a literature review," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 513-530, July.
    9. Luciana D’Adderio, 2014. "The Replication Dilemma Unravelled: How Organizations Enact Multiple Goals in Routine Transfer," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1325-1350, October.
    10. Anja Danner-Schröder, 2021. "Without actors, there is no action: How interpersonal interactions help to explain routine dynamics," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 1913-1936, October.
    11. Nicholas Argyres, 2011. "Using Organizational Economics to Study Organizational Capability Development and Strategy," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1138-1143, October.
    12. Alberto Bertello & Paola Bernardi & Francesca Ricciardi, 2024. "Open innovation: status quo and quo vadis - an analysis of a research field," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 633-683, February.
    13. Turner, Simon & Higginson, Juliet & Oborne, C. Alice & Thomas, Rebecca E. & Ramsay, Angus I.G. & Fulop, Naomi J., 2014. "Codifying knowledge to improve patient safety: A qualitative study of practice-based interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 169-176.
    14. Anna Long & Matthew S. Wood & Daniel L. Bennett, 2023. "Entrepreneurial organizing activities and nascent venture performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 433-461, February.
    15. Alexandra Michel, 2014. "The Mutual Constitution of Persons and Organizations: An Ontological Perspective on Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1082-1110, August.
    16. Luis Enrique Valdez-Juárez & Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez & Elva Alicia Ramos-Escobar, 2019. "Organizational Learning and Corporate Social Responsibility Drivers of Performance in SMEs in Northwestern Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-23, October.
    17. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2022. "A Call for Research on the Scaling of Organizations and the Scaling of Social Impact," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 255-268, March.
    18. Fabio Blanco-Mesa & Omar Vinchira & Yesica Cuy, 2023. "Forgotten Factors in Knowledge Conversion and Routines: A Fuzzy Analysis of Employee Knowledge Management in Exporting Companies in Boyacá," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-35, January.
    19. Maroun, Warren & Duboisée de Ricquebourg, Alan, 2024. "How auditors identify and report key audit matters - An organizational routines perspective," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    20. Aura Parmentier Cajaiba & Giovany Cajaiba Santana & Nathalie Lazaric, 2015. "An institutional perspective on routine emergence: A case from the bio-tech industry," Post-Print hal-01298030, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:388:y:2026:i:c:s0277953625010950. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.