BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE THROUGH DIGITAL LEADERSHIP: HOW ICT FIRMS IN CONSTRAINED ECONOMIES NAVIGATE UNCERTAINTY TOWARD COMPETITIVE POSITIONING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v23.6313Keywords:
Digital Leadership, Organizational Resilience, Competitive Advantage, Uncertainty Management, Adaptation Role, ICT Sector, Constrained Economies, PLS-SEMAbstract
Organizations operating in institutionally constrained and conflict-affected economies face a compounded challenge: they must build competitive positioning against regional and global rivals while contending with resource scarcity, infrastructural fragility, and persistent political instability. This study examines how digital leadership — conceptualized through five behavioral dimensions: inspirational, innovation-oriented, uncertainty management, adaptation, and visionary — contributes to organizational resilience and, through it, to sustained competitive advantage among ICT firms in Palestine. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV), Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), and Organizational Resilience theory, and grounded in empirical data from 204 C-level executives in firms affiliated with the Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies (PITA), the study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test a resilience-mediated model of competitive positioning. The findings show that the uncertainty management role (β = 0.270, p < 0.001) and the adaptation role (β = 0.218, p < 0.001) are the most robust drivers of organizational resilience — operationalized through innovation capabilities — which in turn exerts a dominant influence on competitive advantage (β = 0.731, p < 0.001). The model accounts for 87.7% of the variance in competitive advantage, and robustness checks confirm that the resilience-building pathways remain structurally stable across demographic controls. This study contributes to a resilience-centered reframing of digital leadership theory and offers empirically grounded guidance for ICT leaders navigating institutional complexity and disruption.
References
Ali, A. (2024). Positivism and its role in contemporary research methodology. Journal of Research Methodology, 12(1), 45–62.
AlNuaimi, B. K., Kumar Singh, S., Ren, S., Budhwar, P., & Dias, A. (2022). Mastering digital transformation: The nexus between leadership, agility, and digital strategy. Journal of Business Research, 145, 636–648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.03.038
Ambulkar, S., Blackhurst, J., & Grawe, S. (2015). Firm's resilience to supply chain disruptions: Scale development and empirical examination. Journal of Operations Management, 33, 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2014.11.002
Assensoh-Kodua, A. (2019). The resource-based view: A tool of key competency for competitive advantage. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 17(3), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.17(3).2019.12
Baran, B. E., & Woznyj, H. M. (2020). Managing VUCA: The human dynamics of agility. Organizational Dynamics, 50(2), Article 100787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100787
Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108
Benitez, J., Arenas, A., Castillo, A., & Esteves, J. (2022). Impact of digital leadership capability on innovation performance: The role of platform digitization capability. Information & Management, 59(2), Article 103590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2022.103590
Busulwa, R., Pickering, M., & Mao, I. (2022). Understanding the relationship between digital transformation and hospitality and tourism management research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(6), 2286–2311. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-09-2021-1166
Chirumalla, K. (2021). Building digitally-enabled process innovation in the process industries: A dynamic capabilities approach. Technovation, 105, Article 102256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102256
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E., & Zampieri, R. (2019). The role of leadership in a digitalized world: A review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1938. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01938
Cuthbertson, R., & Furseth, P. I. (2022). Digital firms and the resource-based view. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 31(2), Article 101716.
Duchek, S. (2020). Organizational resilience: A capability-based conceptualization. Business Research, 13(1), 215–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-019-0085-7
Emerson, R. W. (2021). Convenience sampling revisited: Embracing its limitations through thoughtful application. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 115(1), 76–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X20987707
Farida, I., & Setiawan, D. (2022). Business strategies and competitive advantage: The role of performance and innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 8(3), Article 163. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc8030163
Ferreira, J., Coelho, A., & Moutinho, L. (2020). Dynamic capabilities, creativity and innovation capability and their impact on competitive advantage and firm performance. Technovation, 92–93, Article 102061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2018.11.004
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Ghosh, S., Hughes, M., Hodgkinson, I., & Hughes, P. (2022). Digital transformation of industrial businesses: A dynamic capability approach. Technovation, 113, Article 102414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102414
Golzar, J., Noor, S., & Tajik, O. (2022). Convenience sampling. International Journal of Education & Language Studies, 1(2), 72–77. https://doi.org/10.22034/ijels.2022.162092
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2022). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using R: A workbook. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7
Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9(2), 193–206. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1984.4277628
Jhantasana, C. (2023). Using the gamma-exponential method for PLS-SEM sample size determination. Journal of Applied Statistics and Information Technology, 8(1), 1–14.
Kane, G. C., Phillips, A. N., Copulsky, J., & Andrus, G. (2019). How digital leadership is (n't) different. MIT Sloan Management Review, 60(3), 34–39.
Khanna, T., & Palepu, K. G. (2010). Winning in emerging markets: A road map for strategy and execution. Harvard Business Press.
Khin, S., & Ho, T. C. (2019). Digital technology, digital capability and organizational performance: A mediating role of digital innovation. International Journal of Innovation Science, 11(2), 177–195. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIS-08-2018-0083
Lengnick-Hall, C. A., Beck, T. E., & Lengnick-Hall, M. L. (2011). Developing a capacity for organizational resilience through strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 21(3), 243–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2010.07.001
London, T., & Hart, S. L. (2004). Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: Beyond the transnational model. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(5), 350–370. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400099
Mihardjo, L. W. W., & Sasmoko, S. (2019). Digital transformation: Digital leadership role in developing business model innovation mediated by co-creation strategy for telecommunication incumbent firms. In Strategy and behaviors in the digital economy. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84788
Mohajan, H. K. (2020). Quantitative research: A successful investigation in natural and social sciences. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 9(4), 50–79. https://doi.org/10.26458/jedep.v9i4.679
Muneeb, D., Ahmad, S. Z., Abu Bakar, A. R., & Tehseen, S. (2023). Empowering resources recombination through dynamic capabilities of an enterprise. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 36(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-02-2021-0084
Munsamy, M. (2022). A digital leadership competency framework in the era of 4IR [Doctoral dissertation, University of Johannesburg]. UJ Institutional Repository.
Musaigwa, M., & Kalitanyi, V. (2024). Effective leadership in the digital era: An exploration of change management. Technology Audit and Production Reserves, 1(4/75), 6–14. https://doi.org/10.15587/2706-5448.2024.298376
Mweshi, G. K., & Muhyila, M. (2024). Determining a statistical analysis for the quantitative study. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(7), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.117.17068
Pashiardis, P., & Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz, S. (2022). School leadership in times of uncertainty and ambiguity. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003162155
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Hair, J. F. (2020). Partial least squares structural equation modeling. In C. Homburg et al. (Eds.), Handbook of market research (pp. 1–47). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05542-8_15-1
Schiuma, G., Schettini, E., Santarsiero, F., & Carlucci, D. (2022). The transformative leadership compass: Six competencies for digital transformation entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 28(5), 1273–1291. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2020-0786
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Corwin Press.
Shin, J., Mollah, M. A., & Choi, J. (2023). Sustainability and organizational performance in South Korea: The effect of digital leadership on digital culture and employees' digital capabilities. Sustainability, 15(3), Article 2027. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032027
Sigalas, C., Economou, V. P., & Georgopoulos, N. B. (2013). Developing a measure of competitive advantage. Journal of Strategy and Management, 6(4), 320–342. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-03-2013-0015
South, L., Saffo, D., Vitek, O., Dunne, C., & Borkin, M. A. (2022). Effective use of Likert scales in visualization evaluations: A systematic review. Computer Graphics Forum, 41(3), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14519
Tanujaya, B., Prahmana, R. C. I., & Mumu, J. (2022). Likert scale in social sciences research: Problems and difficulties. FWU Journal of Social Sciences, 16(4), 89–101. https://doi.org/10.51709/19951272/Winter2022/6
Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28(13), 1319–1350. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.640
Trenerry, B., Chng, S., Wang, Y., Suhaila, Z. S., Lim, S. S., Lu, H. Y., & Oh, P. H. (2021). Preparing workplaces for digital transformation: An integrative review and framework of multi-level factors. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 620766. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.620766
Trushkina, N., Abazov, R., Rynkevych, N., & Bakhautdinova, G. (2020). Digital transformation of organizational culture under conditions of the information economy. Virtual Economics, 3(1), 7–38. https://doi.org/10.34021/ve.2020.03.01(1)
Varadarajan, R. (2020). Customer information resources advantage, marketing strategy and business performance: A market resources-based view. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.03.003
Vladimirov, Z. (2021). Mediating role of innovations as a factor of firm's competitiveness. Economic Alternatives, 3, 407–429.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
I (we) submit this article which is original and unpublished, of my (our) own authorship, to the evaluation of the Veredas do Direito Journal, and agree that the related copyrights will become exclusive property of the Journal, being prohibited any partial or total copy in any other part or other printed or online communication vehicle dissociated from the Veredas do Direito Journal, without the necessary and prior authorization that should be requested in writing to Editor in Chief. I (we) also declare that there is no conflict of interest between the articles theme, the author (s) and enterprises, institutions or individuals.
I (we) recognize that the Veredas do Direito Journal is licensed under a CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE.
Licença Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
