The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the global economy, with numerous companies suffering losses and shutting down. However, some companies proved to be resilient, being able to sustain their economic performance despite the pandemic. The study aims to explain the sustainable economic performance of companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationships between empowering leadership, innovative work behavior, organizational readiness to change, and sustainable economic performance were assessed. The data were collected via an online questionnaire from January 2021 to March 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. The respondents were Russian companies’ employees holding management positions, competent to objectively assess organizational circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 337 was used in the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted using SPSS AMOS. The structural model was tested with standardized parameter estimates, standard errors, and p-values calculated. The findings of the study suggest that innovative work behavior and organizational readiness to learn have a direct influence on sustainable economic performance. The findings also suggest that empowering leadership impacts innovative work behavior but not sustainable economic performance. The mediation analysis indicates that innovative work behavior is a mediator between empowering leadership and sustainable economic performance, whereas organizational readiness to learn is not a moderator. The study adds to the leadership and sustainability body of knowledge and contributes to the research on the COVID-19 pandemic in the organizational context.

The COVID-19 crisis impacted negatively sustainable growth and the wellbeing of businesses and national economies. The economic outlook of 2020 and 2021 reflects a slowdown in the global economy, with poverty and unemployment rates ascending, national debts growing, and fiscal and monetary burden increasing. All the sectors of the economy have been affected across all of the EU countries, including the agricultural sector. Coronavirus posed unprecedented challenges for the agricultural sector, ranging from a labour shortage to demand changes. Lockdowns caused immense disturbances in farmers’ supply chains, causing them to doubt their long-term viability. Due to the social distancing and restrictions on social gatherings, marketplaces either closed or were devoid of customers. At the same time, the agricultural sector has proved quite resilient during the COVID-19 crisis. In this paper, we discuss the challenges which the agricultural sector has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggest that further growth and development can be sustained through innovation, more precisely, digital technology. The current conceptual research contributes to the body by exploring the effect of the novel COVID-19 virus on national economies and especially the agricultural sector.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, organizational change has emerged as a crucial aspect of contemporary business strategies. The capacity to adapt is vital for organizations to maintain their competitive edge and stay relevant. However, executing change can be challenging, and the success of change initiatives largely hinges on an organization’s readiness to change and learn. Organizational readiness to change has been extensively researched in management and organizational studies. This research paper delves into organizational readiness to change and learn, scrutinizing its influence on change initiatives and emphasizing the key trends and developments in this area between 2012 and 2021. The paper presents an in-depth SciVal analysis of the growth and scholarly output in the domains of learning organizations, organizational performance, and personnel over this period. The study identifies the most pertinent keyphrases, leading institutions, countries/regions, and Scopus sources contributing to the field.