Resilience refers to the ability to work through and adapt to adversity and difficulty. Through a long-term longitudinal study conducted on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Werner (1996) [1] demonstrated that some children raised in adverse conditions grew up in healthy and well-adjusted ways — describing this phenomenon as "vulnerable but invincible."

She identified family and community support, as well as self-efficacy, as key factors underpinning resilience. Rutter (1987) [2], meanwhile, defined resilience as a "psychosocial protective mechanism," focusing on the process of adapting to stress.

He highlighted the importance of the interaction between genetic and environmental factors, and demonstrated that protective factors — such as family warmth and positive relationships at school — help individuals adapt in difficult circumstances. In this way, resilience has come to be understood as a complex capacity that encompasses both individual characteristics and the influence of one's surrounding environment.

In recent years, this concept has been applied to the field of business, where it has attracted attention as a factor supporting the sustained performance and psychological stability of employees and leaders in rapidly changing markets and high-pressure workplaces. Organizations are increasingly introducing training and support programs aimed at building resilience, with a growing movement toward enhancing adaptive capacity across entire organizations.

At the same time, existing resilience research has focused primarily on general life circumstances, sports performance, or mental health conditions — with relatively little attention given to business environments specifically. Given the increasing use of resilience frameworks in professional settings, this scale was developed with a business environment as its explicit premise.

The following prior research was reviewed in developing this resilience scale.

Saito & Okayasu (2010) [3]
A resilience measurement scale was developed targeting university students. Drawing on prior research, this study extracted "competence," "social support," "positive appraisal," "affiliation," and "significant others" as resilience factors, and used these as the basis for scale construction.

Hirano (2010) [4]
Seven factors were identified: "optimism," "sense of control," "sociability," and "proactiveness" as dispositional resilience factors, and "problem-solving orientation," "self-understanding," and "understanding of others' psychology" as acquired resilience factors.

Kodama (2017) [5]
A career resilience scale targeting university students was developed, enabling the measurement of resilience in career-related contexts. This study adopted "problem-coping ability," "social skills," "novelty and diversity orientation," "future orientation," and "helping orientation" as its primary factors.

Connor & Davidson (2003) [6]
Connor and Davidson developed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) to measure psychological resilience in a general adult population. This study identified multiple components of resilience, including "personal competence," "tolerance and pursuit of high standards," "acceptance of change and secure relationships," "sense of control," and "spirituality."

The scale was developed through brainstorming sessions led primarily by certified psychologists, clinical psychologists, and graduates of psychology master's programs. The generated items were then grouped using the KJ method, reviewed, and refined. The result was a six-factor structure with four questions per factor, as follows.

• Social Support
• 1. I feel my workplace is one where I can consult others when I am struggling.
• 2. My team has good teamwork and we support each other.
• 3. I believe the interpersonal relationships in my workplace are healthy.
• 4. I am able to ask for help when I need it.



• Self-Efficacy
• 5. I believe my performance can improve depending on the effort I put in.
• 6. When a problem arises, I believe I can resolve it on my own.
• 7. I am able to adjust the way I approach my work according to my own judgment.
• 8. I believe I am a person my organization genuinely needs.



• Optimism
• 9. Even when problems arise, I tend to think about them optimistically.
• 10. When I make a mistake, I see it as something I can learn from and apply next time.
• 11. I see many possibilities in my current career path.
• 12. I approach my work with a sense of the positive future ahead.



• Problem-Solving Ability
• 13. I am able to organize challenges and prioritize them effectively.
• 14. I identify cause-and-effect relationships and use them to generate solutions.
• 15. I tend to be able to come up with a range of different solutions.
• 16. I take proactive action to resolve problems.



• Flexibility
• 17. I am able to respond calmly even when plans change suddenly.
• 18. I am able to adjust the way I approach my work flexibly when needed.
• 19. I am able to stay composed when unexpected problems arise.
• 20. I believe I am able to adapt when my work environment changes.



• Physical Self-Care
• 21. I am mindful of not allowing myself to become overworked.
• 22. I believe my diet is generally healthy.
• 23. I pay sufficient attention to managing my physical health.
• 24. I ensure I get enough sleep.

● Number of Questions: 6 factors × 4 questions each

● 5-Point Scale

Strongly Disagree　　0

Disagree　　　　　　1

Neutral　　　　　　　2

Agree　　　　　　　　3

Strongly Agree　　　4

● High / Moderate / Low Threshold per Factor

13 to 16　　High　　9 to 12　　Moderate　　0 to 8　　Low

● Overall Score Thresholds

75 to 96　　Excellent

59 to 74　　Good

43 to 58　　Fair

0 to 42　　　Poor

For each dimension, we provided an evaluation of approximately 1,000 characters covering key characteristics and points to be aware of. The content was developed based on prior research and the clinical experience of the authors.

This assessment has not been subjected to factor analysis or checks for reliability and validity. It reflects the professional judgment of specialists, but please note that it lacks sufficient statistical grounding and is not intended for use in academic research.

[1] Werner, E. E. (1996). Vulnerable but invincible: High-risk children from birth to adulthood. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5(Supplement 1), 47–51.
[2] Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57(3), 316–331.
[3] Saito, K., & Okayasu, T. (2010). Development of a resilience scale for university students. Meiji University Journal of Psychosocial Studies, 5, 22.
[4] Hirano, M. (2010). An attempt to classify dispositional and acquired resilience factors: Development of the Bidimensional Resilience Scale (BRS). Japanese Journal of Personality, 19(1), 35–48.
[5] Kodama, M. (2017). Development of a career resilience scale for university students. Journal of Learning Development Studies, 10, 45–60.
[6] Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10113