The Resilience Trio: Organisational Environment, Mutual Support, and Customer Involvement in Agile IT Project Teams

Abstract

Background: In the face of escalating volatility and complexity, organisations increasingly turn to agile practices to bolster adaptability. Yet, agility alone does not guarantee that project teams will withstand prolonged disruptions or rapid market shifts.

Objective: This study investigates how the agile organisational environment shapes team resilience, examining both its direct impact and its indirect effects via mutual support and customer involvement within Moroccan Information Technology agile projects.

Methodology: Employing a quantitative cross-sectional design, data were gathered through a structured survey of 142 agile professionals. Constructs for the organisational environment, mutual support, customer involvement, and team resilience were adapted from established measures and rated on a seven-point Likert scale. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) guided hypothesis testing underpinned by the Conservation of Resources theory.

Results: The findings reveal that a supportive and flexible agile environment markedly strengthens team resilience. This influence operates directly and is further amplified by enhanced peer collaboration, indicating that teams with strong mutual support recover more effectively from adversity. Additionally, engaging clients meaningfully provides another pathway to bolster resilience, though its effect is more modest than that of internal team dynamics. The combined model accounts for a substantial proportion of the variation in resilience among teams.

Conclusion: Cultivating an organisational climate that promotes collaboration, trust, and stakeholder engagement is vital for sustaining team performance under pressure.

Unique Contribution: By introducing customer involvement as an external resilience enabler, this study extends the agile project management literature and provides empirical evidence from an emerging-economy context.

Key Recommendations: Managers should actively foster mutual support structures within teams and integrate clients early in agile processes to reinforce resilience across projects.