Mzamani Isaac Khoza, Kgashane Stephen Nyakala, Wilson Plaatjie Ramotshwane Malebye
Abstract
Municipalities in South Africa (SA) face numerous business process disruptions that impair their ability to provide services to their clients. Business continuity management (BCM) is crucial for ensuring the resilience of municipal service delivery operations that are essential for service continuity, even during disasters. This systematic literature review (SLR) synthesised published research on BCM within South African municipal context, aiming to map the knowledge, application, and impact on service delivery. A comparison of studies was made based on a search from eight academic databases following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach. The search was on BCM focused research published between January 2015 and February 2025. Using the Boolean Operators approach, search terms were combined to refine and narrow down the search results as follows: BCM in general, BCM in state institutions NOT private sector, and BCM AND local government in South Africa. Thematic analysis was employed to synthesise the findings from the selected studies through manual coding, grouping together associated themes and concepts and establishing their correlations. The SLR yielded 1176 relevant articles, with 472 published on BCM, and 704 on BCM-related concepts. Of these articles, only eighteen are within the SA context, of which six are on BCM in the SA government, and none on BCM in SA municipalities. A thematic analysis revealed that municipalities face unique BCM challenges, including knowledge deficits and skills gaps on the requisite expertise, inadequate adoption and integration with other strategic management systems, and inadequate infrastructure and resources. Having identified the limited research on the impact of BCM on organisational resilience and municipal service delivery, the study highlights some opportunities for BCM research within municipal contexts, particularly in SA, such as on developing BCM capacity and capabilities, the challenges facing municipal BCM practice. This SLR highlights the need for further research on BCM implementation in SA municipalities. It advocates for the development of context-specific BCM frameworks and the exploration of innovative strategies to enhance organisational resilience and maintain essential service continuity during operational disruptions.