Iterative Factors Favoring Collaboration for Interorganizational Resilience: The Case of the Greater Montréal Transportation Infrastructure

Between members of a network, interorganizational resilience is favored by effective collaboration and coordination during a crisis. The quality of that collaboration depends on various iterative factors present between these organizations before the occurrence of a crisis. We find that these factors are iterative since collaboration factors follow a mutually reinforcing cycle: collaboration within a crisis management network is conditioned by a general agreement, which is in turn conditioned by the extent to which the institutions coordinate themselves prior to crisis. We evaluated the factors that promote collaboration between public and private organizations that manage the Greater Montréal transportation infrastructure. These factors are based on adaptive management processes such as mutual agreements, common organizational culture, knowledge and financial resources, levers of power, regulations, and pressure. Crisis management coordination represents the ability to build and assess the effectiveness of common response plans to risks to which they are exposed. We show how these processes vary depending on the links between private and public organizations.