Moral Resilience and Trust Repair: Behavioral Mechanisms for Ethical Renewal in Co-opetitive Ecosystems

This study examines how firms restore moral legitimacy after ethical disruption within interdependent and competitive networks. Existing research on trust repair emphasizes competence and reliability, yet the behavioral processes that rebuild ethical integrity remain underexplored. Conceptual analysis and semiconductor evidence support a multi-level framework that defines ethical trust repair as moral resilience. The model identifies three behavioral mechanisms: relational repair through moral dialogue and empathy, institutional reinforcement through accountability and transparent governance, and systemic renewal through shared moral norms and collective learning. Together, these mechanisms illustrate how organizations transform moral failure into behavioral adaptation and sustained cooperation. Ethical resilience emerges as a proactive capability that integrates moral reasoning with organizational learning and decision processes. By linking moral cognition with responsible innovation, this research extends behavioral ethics theory and offers a foundation for examining how moral recovery sustains long-term organizational legitimacy and ecosystem stability.