Explaining the Role of Strategic Agility in Resilience of Social Business

In today’s complex and turbulent environments, only organizations capable of rapidly and effectively adapting to rapidly changing conditions can survive and thrive. The research seeks to identify the key factors that contribute to building resilient organizations through organizational agility, specifically the role of strategic agility in the resilience of social enterprises and providing a conceptual framework for it. From a methodological standpoint, this study adopts an interpretivist research philosophy, is applied in orientation, follows an inductive approach, and employs a qualitative method. Data collection was conducted through documentary analysis using the meta-synthesis technique. The derived sub-categories and main categories served as core elements in the development of the Agile and Resilient Management (ARM) model. The ARM model explores the relationships between agility in various domains—including digital transformation, innovation, organizational agility, and risk management—and organizational resilience. It also examines how agility contributes to performance improvement and organizational development in social enterprises. Accordingly, agility in areas such as digital transformation, innovation, organizational agility, and risk management is considered a critical driver of organizational resilience, and the interrelations among these factors are clearly illustrated. Organizations that can quickly adapt to changes, innovate in their products and processes, and manage risks and crises effectively demonstrate greater resilience. The ARM model can serve as a guiding framework for organizations aiming to build resilience. It helps organizations leverage agility as a strategic capability to enhance performance and drive continuous improvement.
 
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In today's business world, where rapid changes have become an unavoidable reality, the ability of organizations to adapt and respond to these changes is more vital than ever. The new business environment faces challenges such as market fluctuations, technological transformations, rapid shifts in customer preferences, and global crises such as pandemics and climate change. In such conditions, only organizations that are able to adapt quickly and effectively to these circumstances can survive and thrive in such dynamic environments. The need for agile actions and resilient operations in recent years has directed the attention of strategic management researchers towards the concept of resilient organizations and agile organizations as two important approaches in managing and developing organizations to respond to continuously changing needs. In today's complex and turbulent environments, only organizations that can adapt quickly and effectively to circumstances can continue to survive and progress in such dynamic environments. The aim of this research is to link the concepts of resilience and agility in organizations and specifically "to explain the role of strategic agility in the resilience of social businesses and to provide a conceptual framework for it," which has been formed in line with identifying the factors affecting the creation of resilient organizations through organizational agility. The concepts of resilience and agility address organizational issues from different aspects, including adaptability and flexibility. A resilient organization is defined as an organization that has the ability to withstand and recover from disruptions and can use past experiences to strengthen its systems and processes. The distinguishing feature of this research is linking these two concepts by focusing on the meta-synthesis method, which allows organizational managers to use its findings to create an organization that not only has the ability to survive in complex conditions but can also exploit emerging opportunities. The gradual learning process is vital for both resilience and agility. One of the key ways to link these two concepts is to highlight learning and its gradual improvement.
 
Method
This study, from the perspective of research philosophy: interpretive; research orientation: applied; research approach: inductive; research method: qualitative; and data collection method: documentary and literature review, has been conducted using the meta-synthesis method. The obtained subcategories and categories were used as essential parts in the development of the Agile and Resilient Management (ARM) model. The researchers have acted to answer the main question based on a systematic meta-synthesis review. The aim is to identify the factors affecting the construction of resilient organizations with strategic agility and to provide a proposed framework regarding the aforementioned topic. The Scopus and Web of Science indexing databases were used to search for articles with titles or keywords related to resilient organizations with strategic agility. All articles were published in English between 2009 and 2024.
 
Results
After data analysis and the coding process, the final model of this research was developed. This model examines the relationship between agility in different areas including digital transformation, innovation, organizational agility, and risk management with organizational resilience. Also, the effect of agility on the performance and organizational improvement of social businesses has been the focus of attention in this model. Thus, agility in various areas such as digital transformation, innovation, organizational agility, and risk management were investigated as important factors that have a direct effect on organizational resilience.
 
Conclusion
The relationship between these factors and organizational resilience has been clearly shown. Organizations that are able to adapt quickly to changes, innovate in products and processes, and manage risks and crises effectively have greater resilience. The ARM model can serve as a guiding framework for organizations to achieve resilience. This model helps organizations to increase their performance and organizational improvement by utilizing agility. Various studies have analyzed organizational agility and resilience, and each of these studies has addressed different aspects of these concepts. The present study, using the meta-synthesis approach, has provided a review of the meta-synthesis method that has led to the identification and categorization of key variables. This study has also introduced a new framework in which agility and resilience are reciprocally and simultaneously interconnected, and this connection helps to increase the resilience of organizations in the face of crises and changes. Thus, the present study, by providing a new theoretical framework, contributes to a better understanding of the interrelationships and mutual influences between agility and resilience variables and offers organizations strategies for improving performance and increasing resilience, especially in critical situations. This model clearly shows how agility in three main areas (digital transformation and innovation, organizational agility with the development of dynamic capabilities, and risk and crisis management) can increase organizational resilience in two main areas (organizational resilience capacity in crisis, and organizational performance and improvement). The distinguishing feature of this research is linking these two concepts by focusing on the meta-synthesis method, which allows organizational managers to use its findings to create an organization that not only has the ability to survive in complex conditions but can also exploit emerging opportunities.
The authors would like to thank all participants who contributed their time and effort to this study. We also express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that helped improve the quality of this manuscript.
 
 
 
Funding
This research received no external funding
 
Authors’ Contribution
All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
 
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all those who contributed to this work through their valuable scientific and technical support.