Impact of information technology capabilities on organizational resilience: the mediating role of social capital

Abstract

Organizational resilience is becoming a priority for enterprises’ survival in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts. However, few studies have investigated how information technology (IT) capabilities promote organizational resilience. To fill this gap, we draw on the IT capabilities literature and social capital theory to build a theoretical model to investigate the impact of IT capabilities on organizational resilience. The concept of social capital is introduced as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between IT capabilities (i.e., infrastructure capability, human capability, and business spanning capability) and organizational resilience (i.e., reactive and proactive resilience). The model is tested based on 369 Chinese manufacturing enterprises that survived the COVID-19 pandemic. This study confirms the key role of IT capabilities in building organizational resilience and the critical mediating role that social capital exhibits between IT capabilities and organizational resilience. This study has both theoretical and managerial implications for enterprise digital resilience.