From risk management practices to sustainable performance: resource reconfiguration capability and organizational resilience in Saudi organizations

Formal risk management systems do not automatically generate sustainable performance; their strategic value may depend on whether organizations can convert risk information into adaptive action. Grounded in dynamic capability theory and situated within Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 transformation, this study develops a staged capability-conversion model linking risk management practices, resource reconfiguration capability, organizational resilience, and sustainable performance, while testing transformational leadership as a first-stage boundary condition. Cross-sectional survey data from 225 professionals in Saudi public and private organizations were analyzed using PLS-SEM. Risk management practices were not directly associated with sustainable performance (β = 0.071, p = 0.123), but were positively associated with resource reconfiguration capability (β = 0.564), which was associated with organizational resilience (β = 0.641) and, subsequently, sustainable performance (β = 0.586). The sequential indirect association was significant (β = 0.212, p < 0.001), whereas transformational leadership did not significantly strengthen the risk management–reconfiguration relationship (β = 0.043, p = 0.294). These findings refine the direct-effect view of risk management by supporting an ordered capability pathway through which risk knowledge becomes performance-relevant. The study shifts attention from whether risk management matters to how organizations translate risk information into resource flexibility, resilience, and sustainable value.