Cultivating employee well-being and resilience for organizational sustainable performance

Purpose Grounded in the social exchange theory (SET) and conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to investigate the significance of developing a healthy, resilient academic staff as a key resource for organizational sustainability and growth. The effects of employee well-being and resilience on perceived organizational sustainable performance were examined in private higher education institutions in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire distributed to academic staff at seven private universities in Egypt. The researcher employed structural equation model (SEM) to examine the direct and indirect effects of employee well-being and resilience on organizational sustainable performance, with innovative work behavior as a mediating variable. Findings The findings demonstrate that employee well-being, along with employee resilience, stimulates innovative behavior. This behavior partially mediates academic staff's perceptions of organizational sustainable performance in academic work settings. This implies that innovative work behavior is important, but not the only pathway to linking psychological resources to sustainability perceptions. Practical implications This research provides valuable insights for private universities in designing interventions to promote staff well-being and resilience embedded within human resource (HR) systems rather than merely promoted as supportive practices. HR practices need to incentivize innovative behavior to ensure that psychological resources are effectively translated into sustainable organizational outcomes. Originality/value By integrating SET and COR theory in the context of private higher education institutions in Egypt, this study contributes to testing how psychological resources translate into sustainability perceptions and to identifying innovative work behavior as a key behavioral mechanism shaping staff perceptions of organizational sustainable performance. This multidimensional approach offers a micro-level behavioral explanation of sustainability outcomes in universities within a developing country context.