Reimagining Resilience: Visionary Leadership, Digital Transformation, and Strategic Flexibility in Small and Medium Enterprises in Construction Sector

Abstract

This article investigates visionary leadership in the context of economic crises coupled with political strife. This article examines the visionary leaders’ influence through mediating and moderating role of digital transformation and organizational strategic flexibility, respectively, in developing organizational resilience. We test this model on data from construction sector small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the developing economy's context. We have employed the lens of contingency theory to understand and explain the results. The collected data were analyzed on SPSS-23 and AMOS 23. Findings reveal that visionary leader would lead the organizational shift to digital transformation in economic crises in order to preserve resources and increase the efficiency of business operations. Results have further shown that digital transformation alone may not foster organizational resilience. Nevertheless, the relationship of digital transformation with resilience becomes more robust when an organization is endowed with high levels of strategic flexibility. Results also have shown that visionary leadership's influence over organizational resilience through digital transformation becomes stronger if organizations uphold strategic flexibility. This article includes valuable recommendations for SMEs to survive during economic crises and political instability and emphasizes the systematic approach when overcoming such issues to survive.