Empirical research on organizational learning capability enhancing resilience performance in digital transformation
TL;DR
The results suggest that learning helps build resilience through quick adaptation of technologies, processes, and decision-making through digital adaptive capacity.
Abstract
Digital transformation opens up more opportunities for organizational access to information, automation, and platform-enabled coordination, but it also creates risks of exposure to the unpredictability of technology and dependency on others. The present study tests if organizational learning capacity enhances organizational resilience performance directly and indirectly through digital adaptive capacity. Cross-sectional survey methodology is defined for a sample of 420 middle and senior managers from Chinese manufacturing and service firms which have been undergoing enterprise-wide digital transformation for at least two years. Organizational learning capacity is conceptualized as a second-order latent variable made up of knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, experimentation, and reflective learning. Partial least squares structural equation modeling with 5,000 bootstrap resamples is used for assessment of measurement properties, direct relationships, mediation, explanation capacity, and prediction accuracy. In a simulated 420-case study, organizational learning capacity positively predicts digital adaptive capacity (β = 0.648***), digital adaptive capacity positively predicts resilience performance (β = 0.463***), and the indirect effect is equal to β = 0.300**. The model accounts for 62.4% of the variation in resilience performance. The results suggest that learning helps build resilience through quick adaptation of technologies, processes, and decision-making.