Author(s)	Definitions
Mallak [36]	“the ability of an individual or organization to expeditiously design and implement positive adaptive behaviours matched to the immediate situation, while enduring minimum stress”
Hale and Heijer [37]	“the characteristic of managing the organisation’s activities to anticipate and circumvent threats to its existence and primary goals”
McDonald [38]	“the capacity (of an organisational system) to anticipate and manage risk effectively, through adaptation of its actions, systems and processes, so as to ensure its core functions are carried out in a stable and effective relationship with the environment”
Westrum [39]	“the ability to prevent something bad from happening, or the ability to prevent something bad from becoming worse, or the ability to recover from something bad once it has happened”
Woods [40]	“the art of managing the unexpected, or how a team or organization becomes prepared to cope with surprises”
Wreathall [41]	“the ability of an organisation (system) to keep, or recover quickly to, a stable state, allowing it to continue operations during and after a major mishap or in the presence of continuous significant stresses”
Patterson, et al. [42]	“the ability to adapt or absorb disturbances, disruption, and change”
Vogus and Sutcliffe [43]	“the maintenance of positive adjustment under challenging conditions such that the organization emerges from those conditions strengthened and more resourceful”
Bracco, et al. [44]	“emergent property of a complex system and comes from the joint interaction of a structure, its functions and an environment where they can take place”
Epstein [45]	“the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress… for general usage it can be defined as the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”
Grote [46]	“the ability of the organization to handle unanticipated uncertainties that arise from changes in the environment and/or because the textbook envelop is incomplete, limited or wrong”
Stephenson, et al. [47]	“the ability of an organisation to survive, and potentially thrive in an environment of change and uncertainty”
Haimes [48]	“the ability of a system to withstand a major disruption within an acceptable degradation parameters and to recover within an acceptable time and composite costs and risks”
Hollnagel [49]	“(a resilient system) is able effectively to adjust it functioning prior to, during, or following changes and disturbances, so that it can continue to perform as required after a disruption or a major mishap, and in the presence of continuous stresses”
Malakis and Kontogiannis [50]	“the ability of a system to adapt or absorb disturbances, disruptions and changes, especially those that fall outside the textbook operation envelop”