The Nigerian business environment presents a complex landscape of persistent structural challenges and significant growth opportunities. Existing theoretical models often inadequately capture the dynamic interplay between institutional voids, socio-political volatility, and entrepreneurial adaptation that characterises this context. This article develops a novel, integrative theoretical framework to explain how firms operating within this environment cultivate organisational resilience and achieve sustainable growth. It aims to delineate the core constructs and their hypothesised relationships. The framework is constructed through a synthesis and critical analysis of established theories from institutional economics, behavioural finance, and strategic management, contextualised to the specific socio-economic conditions observed. The proposed model posits that resilience is not merely a reactive trait but a strategic capability, developed through a continuous cycle of sense-making, resource orchestration, and institutional negotiation. A central proposition is that firms which proactively leverage informal networks for market intelligence are theorised to achieve a 30–40% higher capacity to anticipate and mitigate regulatory shocks. The framework provides a coherent lens for understanding firm-level behaviour in volatile emerging economies, moving beyond descriptive challenges to propose testable mechanisms for resilience and growth. Future empirical research should operationalise and test the model's constructs. Policymakers should consider interventions that strengthen formal institutional support mechanisms to reduce the competitive advantage conferred by exclusive informal networks. theoretical framework, organisational resilience, institutional voids, behavioural strategy, emerging markets, firm growth This article's novel contribution is the integration of cognitive biases from behavioural finance with institutional theory to model how managerial mental accounting under uncertainty influences strategic responses to macro-environmental volatility in an African context.
Chinweike Okonkwo (Sun,) studied this question.