PhD Candidate, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Doctoral School of Sociology, e-mail address: simona.serban@ubbcluj.ro.

Professor Emerita, PhD, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, e-mail address: maria.roth@ubbcluj.ro.

COMMUNITY AND RESILIENCE

ABSTRACT

INSTITUTIONAL RESILIENCE IN SOCIAL SERVICES SERVING OLDER PEOPLE: INTER-INSTITUTIONAL COLLABORATION AS A MECHANISM OF POST-PANDEMIC INSTITUTIONAL ADAPTATION IN CLUJ-NAPOCA (2018–2025) 

This article examines how inter-institutional collaborative practices functioned as a mechanism of institutional adaptation in social services for older people in ClujNapoca, Romania, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2018–2025). Drawing on qualitative research with a longitudinal perspective and constructivist Grounded Theory, the study combines two phases of data collection: Phase I (2020−2022), comprising eight actors and documentary sources, and Phase II (2025–2026), comprising six semi-structured interviews with institutional actors (two public institutions, three nongovernmental organisations, and one civic initiative). The findings reveal four distinct trajectories of institutional adaptation: recovery (non-governmental organisations), transformation (Prefecture institution), legitimised reversibility (Directorate for Social and Medical Assistance), and latent resilience (civic initiatives). The central contribution of the article is the development of a model of adaptive cross-sectoral coordination as an explanatory mechanism of differentiated institutional adaptation. The analysis demonstrates that the same pandemic shock produced divergent long-term trajectories depending on each actor’s mandate and structural position within the institutional field.

Keywords: institutional resilience, inter-institutional collaboration, social services for older people, Grounded Theory, COVID-19 pandemic.

DOI: 10.59277/RJSoc.2026.3-4.01

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