Determinants of business resilience: Investigating the roles of business agility, digitalization, and environmental hostility during the COVID-19 pandemic

Dynamic capabilities research has demonstrated that businesses must adapt to changes in order to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic has put firm resilience to the test. The present study uses the dynamic-capabilities theoretical framework to shed light on the determinants of business resilience. Results from a sample of 243 full-time managers and business owners demonstrate that more agile businesses are more likely to be resilient. In addition, environmental hostility positively moderates the relationship between agility and resilience, as it was stronger with a high environmental hostility and weaker with a low environmental hostility. Digitalization also showed a positive relationship with resilience. Likewise, evidence does not support the hypothesis that digitalization moderates the positive relationship between agility and resilience, i.e., that as engagement increases, the relationship becomes stronger, possibly due to the burnout effect of digitalization. Finally, implications and future research opportunities are presented.