Building organizational resilience, innovation through resource-based management initiatives, organizational learning and environmental dynamism

Abstract

Drawing upon the resource-based and dynamic capability views (RBV and DCV, respectively), this study examines the underlying theoretical mechanism between resource-based management initiatives (RBMI) and the resilience and innovation of Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), taking account of potential boundary conditions. Using time-lag data (three waves of data collection) from 188 SMEs, the study finds that RBMI are positively associated with organizational resilience, which in turn enhances innovation. Our results also indicate that organizational learning mediates the RBMI-organizational resilience/innovation relationships. Finally, self‐awareness of environmental dynamism significantly strengthens the relationships between organizational learning and resilience/innovation. This study is among the first to combine and incorporate the RBV and DCV as a theoretical insight to explain how organizations develop their internal resources as a capacity for resilience and innovation in the emerging market context of Vietnamese SMEs. This study makes both theoretical and contextual contributions.