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Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the organisational capabilities needed for strategic agility among private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia that are operating in a turbulent business environment. In addition, the study also intends to determine the area of prioritisation for these institutions. Design/methodology/approach A two-month data collection was carried out on 375 private HEIs via a Web-based survey, which garnered a response rate of 41.33%. The data were subsequently analysed with the partial least squares structural equation modelling to establish the validity and reliability of the research model and to test the postulated hypotheses. The assessment of importance and performance matrix analysis (IPMA) was also carried out to highlight the areas of significance for improvement. Findings The study discovered that all three constructs of organisational capabilities, i.e. environmental scanning, marketing and organisational learning, attributed significantly to strategic agility. This in turn enabled strategic agility to significantly influence the organisational performance of private HEIs in Malaysia. Finally, IPMA revealed that private HEIs need to prioritise organisational learning to strengthen their strategic agility, thus optimise organisational performance. Originality/value Aside from business and management research of strategic agility in other industries, the current study manages to establish that strategic agility also plays an important role in the private higher education sector. Furthermore, the use of IPMA provides fresh insight into the importance and performance of the organisational capabilities examined against strategic agility.
Chan et al. (2020) studied this question.