Extreme events are becoming more frequent, causing significant distress for organizations while also catalyzing the emergence of organizational compassion. While the literature focuses on how organizational compassion leads to the creation of new ventures, our study broadens the scope to examine how organizational compassion activation can transform existing organizations and lead to long-term organizational growth, continuing beyond the recovery phase. By integrating insights from both organizational compassion and resilience, and employing a mixed-method approach, we surveyed 575 Japanese organizations impacted by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and examined archival data. Our findings reveal that organizations more severely affected by the extreme event demonstrated accelerated growth from 2009 to 2019 compared to less affected organizations. Significantly, this growth trajectory was prominent in organizations that markedly activated organizational compassion towards the affected community. We delve deeper into these dynamics with two case studies from our sample, illustrating how the activation of organizational compassion can underpin resilience and growth by generating a unifying purpose and strengthening stakeholder relationships. This research contributes to the discourse on extreme contexts and positive organizational scholarship by elucidating the crucial role of organizational compassion in catalyzing the resilience process and fostering long-term organizational growth.
