Developing Organisational Agility to Overcome the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has compelled organisation to act swiftly using innovative measures. Due to the fluid nature of the pandemic, organisational agility is critical and offers a basis for business survival. Therefore, this study aims to predict factors affecting organisational agility by conducting empirical analyses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using quantitative and associative design. The sampling method used is convenience sampling, where 195 respondents are owners and managers of SMEs in tourism industry in Jakarta. The results show that social capital positively and substantially affects e-business proactiveness and collaborative knowledge creation. In this context, collaborative knowledge creation impacts e-business proactiveness and organisational agility. Additionally, e-business proactiveness has a positive and significant effect on organisational agility. The mediating role of collaborative knowledge creation and e-business proactiveness is also reported. Regarding the novelty of the study, the empirical role of mediation is proven.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; social capital; collaborative knowledge creation; initiative-taking; organisational agility