Organizational adaptation and willingness to bear uncertainty: the role of CEO personality and government influence

Drawing on the “willingness to bear uncertainty” framework, this study posits that proactive and risk-taking CEOs are more willing to lead organizational adaptation under conditions of uncertainty rather than adopt a wait-and-see approach. Further, we argue that risk-averse and passive CEOs become more likely to initiate adaptive change under high government dependency and strong coercive institutional pressure. Employing survey and secondary data on Flemish work integration social enterprises, our findings illustrate that CEO proactiveness is associated with greater organizational adaptation, particularly under high coercive institutional pressure. Surprisingly, CEOs’ risk-taking propensity is not directly associated with organizational adaptation; instead, its effect depends on government dependency and coercive institutional pressure. Under low government dependency or coercive institutional pressure, risk-taking CEOs are more likely to drive adaptation, whereas under high government dependency and coercive institutional pressure, risk-averse CEOs become more likely to pursue adaptive actions.