SPIRITUALITY AS A FOUNDATION FOR SME RESILIENCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR: EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIAN OGSE SMES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/AIJBES.827013Keywords:
Charity, Construction SMEs, Honesty, Malaysia, OGSE Industry, Resilience, Religion, SpiritualityAbstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in project-based industries such as the construction sector and the oil and gas services and equipment (OGSE) sector often face market instability, uncertain operating environments, and limited resources. This affects the resilience of the company and forces it to modify its structure, strategy, and operational practices to survive in the market. Past studies are seen to pay less attention to ethical and value factors and spirituality as factors of organizational resilience when facing a crisis. Therefore, this study aims to explore the aspect of spirituality as a source of resilience among Malaysian OGSE SMEs and examine how it can be applied in the construction sector. Guided by a qualitative research approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven SME leaders who met clear criteria, including a minimum of ten years of business experience and compliance with PETRONAS licensing requirements. The thematic analysis revealed that there are three interconnected spiritual values, namely the charity, religion, and honesty, as practices, which are significant to organizational resilience. These values should be incorporated in the leadership practices, workplace culture, and crisis management practices. Their philanthropic engagements, particularly the zakat and social engagement fostered social affiliations, and sparked off organizational legitimacy. In the meantime, the religious practices provided mental relaxation, moral support and solidarity during uncertain periods and the concept of honesty was defined as the source of trust, transparency and sustenance of long-term relations with stakeholders. In general, this paper can be related to the literature on resilience because it shows that spirituality is a practical and value-based approach that enhances organisational stability and stakeholder trust, which has provided construction SMEs with a culturally based avenue through which they can improve resilience in unstable and risky contexts.
Downloads
References
Adan, M., Hussain, S. I., & Samsudin, H. B. (2020). Understanding the Economic Linkages among Small and Medium Enterprises, Economic Growth, and Employees in Malaysia. Asian Economic and Financial Review, 10(11), 1309–1320. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.aefr.2020.1011.1309.1320
Ahmad, M. F., Razak, N. S. A., Kamaruding, M., & Alshurideh, M. (2023). The effect of transformational leadership toward organizational Innovation: A study of aerospace manufacturing industry in Malaysia. In Studies in computational intelligence (pp. 1515–1528). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12382-5_84
Arham, A. F., Hamid, M. F. A., Meerangani, K. A., Norizan, N. S., Arham, A. F., & Suryanto, T. (2024). The role of Spiritual intelligence in Resilient Leadership: an Islamic perspective. International Journal of Religion, 5(10), 3612–3620. https://doi.org/10.61707/apqv4g78
Boddy, C. (2016). Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 19(4), 426–432. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-06-2016-0053
Bowen, G. A. (2008). Naturalistic inquiry and the saturation concept: A research note. Qualitative Research, 8(1), 137–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794107085301
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). To saturate or not to saturate? Questioning data saturation as a useful concept for thematic analysis and sample-size rationales. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(2), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1704846
Dias, Á., Cunha, I., Pereira, L., Costa, R., & Gonçalves, R. (2022). Revisiting small- and medium-sized enterprises’ innovation and resilience during COVID-19: The tourism sector. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 8(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc8010011.
DiBella, J., Forrest, N., Burch, S., Rao-Williams, J., Ninomiya, S., Hermelingmeier, V., & Chisholm, K. (2022). Exploring the potential of SMEs to build individual, organizational, and community resilience through sustainability-oriented business practices. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(4), 1545–1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3171
Dorais, S., & Gutierrez, D. (2021). The influence of spiritual transcendence on a centering meditation: A growth curve analysis of resilience. Religions, 12(8), 573. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080573
Erdiaw‐Kwasie, M., Abunyewah, M., Yusif, S., & Arhin, P. (2023). Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a pandemic: A systematic review of pandemic risk impacts, coping strategies and resilience. Heliyon, 9(8), e20352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20352
Gonçalves, J., Ferreira, F., Milici, A., & Ferreira, N. (2024). Value‐focused thinking and interpretive structural modeling in the development of resilience‐enhancing initiatives in SMEs. Strategic Change, 33(1), 61–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2617
Iborra, M., Safón, V., & Dolz, C. (2020). What explains the resilience of SMEs? Ambidexterity capability and strategic consistency. Long Range Planning, 53(6), 101947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101947
Ismail, N. N., Kamaruding, M., Ali, N. H. N., Khairuddin, D., Muis, A. M. R. A., & Ali, M. Z. M. (2024). Islamic Principles in Engineering Education: Significance, challenges, and strategies. In Studies in systems, decision and control (pp. 555–565). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71526-6_48
Kamaruding, M., Alias, M. S., Muis, A. M. R. A., & Mokthar, M. Z. (2023). Exploration of the application of Islamic management principles in the management of construction businesses. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(6). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v13-i6/17172
Kamaruding, M., Mokthar, M. Z., & Rahman, S. H. A. (2022). Revising intention as a solution for the corruption issues among actors of construction project management: Analysis from an Islamic perspective. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2566, 090001. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0109962
Khurana, I., Dutta, D., & Ghura, A. (2022). SMEs and digital transformation during a crisis: The emergence of resilience as a second-order dynamic capability in an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Journal of Business Research, 150, 623–636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.048
Kotsios, P. (2023). Business resilience skills for SMEs. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 12(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-023-00304-0
Li, G., & Hu, J. (2025). The Impact of Spiritual Leadership on Employee Resilience: A Self‐Concept Theory Perspective. Human Resource Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12604
Lim, W. M. (2025). Sample size in qualitative research: Moving from data saturation to theoretical saturation. Journal of Global Marketing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2025.2590757
Makmor, A., Razak, N. S. A., Kamaluding, M., & Alshurideh, M. (2023). The influence of Enterprise Risk Management Framework towards company performance at conglomerate group of companies. In Studies in computational intelligence (pp. 1213–1235). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12382-5_66
Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample size in qualitative interview studies: Guided by information power. Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1753–1760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315617444
Marimuthu, M., Hamzah, H. H., & Bangash, R. (2023). Determinants of the capital structure of the oil and gas industry in Malaysia: The moderating role of earnings volatility. Sustainability, 15(24), 16568. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416568
Marshall, M. N. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family Practice, 13(6), 522–525. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/13.6.522
Marshall, B., Cardon, P., Poddar, A., & Fontenot, R. (2013). Does sample size matter in qualitative research? A review of qualitative
interviews in IS research. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 54(1), 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2013.11645667
Ozanne, L., Chowdhury, M., Prayag, G., & Mollenkopf, D. (2022). SMEs navigating COVID-19: The influence of social capital and dynamic capabilities on organizational resilience. Industrial Marketing Management, 104, 116–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.04.009
Pinto, C., Guedes, L., Pinto, S., & Nunes, R. (2024). Spiritual intelligence: a scoping review on the gateway to mental health. Global Health Action, 17. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2024.2362310
Piya, S., Shamsuzzoha, A., & Khadem, M. (2022). Analysis of supply chain resilience drivers in oil and gas industries during the COVID-19 pandemic using an integrated approach. Applied Soft Computing, 121, 108756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2022.108756
Rahman, S. H. A., Faisol, N., Kamaruding, M., & Nusa, F. N. M. (2022). Revisiting the critical success factors (CSFs) contributing to a good subcontracting relationship: Analysing Malaysian construction projects. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2566, 090006. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0110957
Roffia, P., & Dabic, M. (2023). The role of management control and integrated information systems for the resilience of SMEs. Review of Managerial Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-023-00657-6
Ruslan, M. S., Razak, N. S. A., Kamaruding, M., & Alshurideh, M. (2023). Does Customer Loyalty Lead to Successful Automotive Industry? a Study of Malaysian Consumer. In Studies in computational intelligence (pp. 2325–2343). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12382-5_127
Saad, M., Hagelaar, G., Velde, G., & Omta, S. (2021). Conceptualization of SMEs’ business resilience: A systematic literature review. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), 1938347. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1938347
Sandelowski, M. (1995). Sample size in qualitative research. Research in Nursing & Health, 18(2), 179–183. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.4770180211
Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, S., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., Burroughs, H., & Jinks, C. (2018). Saturation in qualitative research: Exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality & Quantity, 52(4), 1893–1907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8
Seo, J., Mahudin, M. B., & Sohn, Y. W. (2022). The relationship between religiosity and meaningful work among Malaysian Muslim employees: The mediating role of existential labor. PLoS ONE, 17(12), e0279251. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279251
Sullivan-Taylor, B., & Branicki, L. (2011). Creating resilient SMEs: Why one size might not fit all. International Journal of Production Research, 49(18), 5565–5579. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2011.563837
Trieu, H., Nguyen, P., Nguyen, T., Vu, H., & Tran, K. (2023). Information technology capabilities and organizational ambidexterity facilitating organizational resilience and firm performance of SMEs. Asia Pacific Management Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2023.03.004
Zutshi, A., Sharma, G., Thomas, A., & Sarker, T. (2021). From challenges to creativity: Enhancing SMEs’ resilience in the context of COVID-19. Sustainability, 13(12), 6542. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126542
