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This research explores how organizational capabilities contribute to resilience in public sector organizations, emphasizing the role of leadership.

April 27, 2026Open Access

Organizational capabilities and ambidextrous leadership as drivers of organizational resilience in Nigerian public sector organizations

UAUsman AbdullahiNigerian Defence Academy ADAl-Amrani Khadeem Ali DhahiSohar University AMAhmad Martadha MohamedNorthern University of Malaysia

Key Points

This research explores how organizational capabilities contribute to resilience in public sector organizations, emphasizing the role of leadership.
Data collected from 306 employees in public sector organizations in Kano State, Nigeria.
Examined the impact of digital human resource management, organizational learning, absorptive capacity, and environmental dynamism on resilience.
Used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis.
Digital human resource management, organizational learning, absorptive capacity, and environmental dynamism significantly enhance organizational resilience.
Ambidextrous leadership partially mediates the relationship between capabilities and resilience outcomes.
Leadership behaviors that balance exploration and exploitation are crucial for transforming capabilities into resilience.

Abstract

Ensuring the sustainability of public sector organizations remains a critical challenge in developing economies, where institutional volatility, resource constraints, and environmental uncertainty undermine effective service delivery. Despite growing interest in organizational resilience, limited empirical research explains how specific organizational capabilities translate into resilience outcomes, particularly through leadership mechanisms in public sector contexts. Drawing on the Dynamic Capabilities View and Ambidextrous Leadership Theory, this study examines how digital human resource management, organizational learning, absorptive capacity, and environmental dynamism influence organizational resilience, and investigates the mediating role of ambidextrous leadership. Data were collected from 306 employees across public sector organizations in Kano State, Nigeria, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that all four capabilities significantly and positively influence organizational resilience. Furthermore, ambidextrous leadership partially mediates these relationships, indicating that leadership behaviors balancing exploration and exploitation play a critical role in transforming organizational capabilities into resilience outcomes. These findings clarify the mechanisms through which organizational capabilities enhance resilience by demonstrating that their effects are both direct and indirectly enabled through leadership processes. The study contributes to the literature by linking dynamic capabilities with leadership-based micro-foundations of resilience in the public sector. Practically, the results highlight the need for governments to integrate digital capabilities, institutionalized learning, and leadership development to strengthen adaptive capacity and ensure sustainable public service delivery. This approach supports the achievement of SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).

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