WELCOME AND NICE TO MEET YOU!
I'M KIJAN

(Dr. rer. pol)

I LIKE TO HELP ORGANIZATIONS GROW TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL

My research focuses on the study of resilience of and in organizations. This especially includes resilience at the team and organizational levels. I am particularly interested in understanding how organizations and their members can deal with different types of adversity, from creeping strain to low-probability, high-impact crisis events to life-threatening extreme situations and contexts.

MY RESEARCH INTERESTS

ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE

Resilience is the maintenance of positive adjustment under challenging conditions. The study of resilience addresses why some organizations are better able to maintain their functioning during adverse events than others. My research focuses on identifying the mechanisms of organizational resilience and exploring how organizational members enact it through their individual and collective actions.

EXTREME CONTEXT RESEARCH

Some organizations exist in which members regularly perform despite facing grave physical and psychological dangers. Examples include firefighters, peacekeepers, and medical professionals. Although most organizations and their members will not face such severe types of adversity, we can still learn from these groups and apply what we learn to organizations operating under more mundane conditions.

HUMAN-AI INTERACTION

More than any other technology in the past, AI has the potential to radically change our everyday lives, the way organizations work, and organizational members collaborate. However, AI's immense potential is also its biggest obstacle. To use the technology without causing harm to others, we need ethical guidelines at the organizational, national, and supranational levels. My research addresses this need.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Click on a publication to view its cover page | Click on a cover page to be directed to the journal

  1. Enacting project resilience: Insights from Uruguayan air force flight 571′s crash in the Andes

    Vakilzadeh, K. & Raetze, S.

    International Journal of Project Management, 2025

  2. The Multilevel Nature of Extreme Team Resilience

    Vakilzadeh, K., Schmutz, J., Antino, M., et al.

    Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, 2025

  3. Trust and Human–AI Interaction in The Creator

    Vakilzadeh, M. & Vakilzadeh, K.

    Organization Studies, 2024

  4. The building blocks of organizational resilience: a review of the empirical literature

    Vakilzadeh, K. & Haase, A.

    Continuity and Resilience Review, 2021