Moving beyond resilience: building antifragility using digital technologies in entrepreneurial organizations

Resilience is crucial as entrepreneurial organizations have often been viewed as fragile systems, leading to their reactive approach to disruptions. However, there is a lack of clarity regarding the role of unique organizational capabilities in interpreting emerging disruptions, managing the aftereffects of disruptions, and achieving antifragility. We explore how entrepreneurial organizations proactively thrive during disruption, with a specific focus on the unique role of varied organizational capabilities at three distinct stages of disruption: the pre-disruption stage, the emergence of disruption, and the post-disruption stage. Our qualitative study investigated responses from managers working in thirty-six entrepreneurial organizations, highlighting the concurrent role of digital capabilities, social capital, and ambidexterity during different stages of disruption. The findings indicate that leveraging social capital is crucial in activating organizational resilience during the various stages of a crisis. Digital technologies enable entrepreneurial organizations to anticipate the potential ramifications of disruptions and engage in collaborations during the post-disruption phase, thereby building antifragility. Another implication is the role of ambidexterity as an organizational capability in responding positively to continuous disruptions and thriving post disruptions.