Dynamic Capabilities and Leadership Evolution: A Systematic Review of Theoretical Development
Keywords:
dynamic capabilities, leadership evolution, strategic leadership, organizational renewal, qualitative research, theoretical development.Abstract
This study aimed to develop a qualitative theoretical synthesis of how leadership evolves through the formation, activation, and institutionalization of dynamic capabilities in organizations operating under conditions of uncertainty, technological change, and strategic renewal. The study used a qualitative theory-development design based on semi-structured interviews with organizational leaders, senior managers, strategy consultants, and management scholars in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling because of their direct experience with strategic change, organizational transformation, and leadership development. A total of 24 participants were interviewed, and theoretical saturation was reached after the twenty-first interview and confirmed through three additional interviews. The interviews focused on the relationship between environmental sensing, adaptive decision-making, resource reconfiguration, learning routines, and the transformation of leadership roles. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. Coding involved open coding, axial categorization, constant comparison, memo writing, and iterative refinement of categories. The analysis produced five main categories: strategic sensing as a leadership capability, adaptive decision architecture, resource reconfiguration and renewal, distributed learning-oriented leadership, and institutionalization of dynamic capabilities. Participants emphasized that leadership evolution does not occur only through individual leader traits but through collective interpretive, relational, and organizational routines. The findings showed that dynamic capabilities become leadership capabilities when leaders transform environmental uncertainty into shared meaning, strategic priorities, experimental action, and organizational learning. The study concludes that leadership evolution is best understood as a dynamic capability process through which leaders sense emerging changes, seize strategic opportunities, reconfigure organizational resources, and institutionalize adaptive learning mechanisms. The findings extend dynamic capabilities theory by clarifying the leadership mechanisms that translate strategic adaptation into sustained organizational renewal
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