Dynamic managerial capabilities, organisational capacity for change and organisational performance: the moderating effect of attitude towards change in a public service organisation

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this study is to explore dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) and their effect on public organisational performance. While the previous research has focused on how leadership style impacts on organisational performance, the authors have investigated how the dynamic managerial capabilities of middle managers and their organisational capacity for change as well as their attitude towards the change are linked to organisational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe dataset was gathered during the field research carried out in a large public Indonesian government institution. In total, 313 managers and their direct followers participated in this study. The authors have employed structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results of this study demonstrate the role of the dynamic capabilities of the middle managers associated with organisational performance. The results show that dynamic managerial capabilities and organisational performance are mediated by the organisational capacity for change.Practical implicationsMiddle managers should equip and develop their capabilities in order to embrace change in the organisation through the communication between the different staff levels, uniting the vision and mission with the organisational members. Further, the organisation should empower the role of the middle managers by increasing their authority and participation in the policy-making that is part of the change process. In addition, the workplace could implement interventions to optimise the dynamic managerial capabilities held by the middle manager and employees through assessments and mentoring. Finally, particular training programmes could be implemented to boost the employees' skills and flexibility, thereby keeping them agile in the context of the changes in the work environment.Originality/valueThe role of the dynamic managerial capabilities of the middle manager is a prominent factor when facilitating a high level of organisational performance in a public organisation. However, the role of dynamic managerial capabilities does not have a direct effect on organisational performance if the organisation does not have the capacity to change, particularly in the Indonesian context.

Reviewing the relationship between organizational performance, dynamic capabilities and strategic behavior

“…Analogous to the previous class, in Class 3, “Organizational Environment”, the following terms can be highlighted: Practitioner, Exploitation, Exploration, University, Public, Organization, Strategy, Ecosystem . Greater occurrences of these terms occurred in Yang et al ( 2016 ), Vogus and Rerup ( 2018 ), Napathorn ( 2021 ) and Widianto et al ( 2021 ). In a generalized way, we perceived that the articles assess the development of skills of organizations in the institutional context by evaluating the relationships between the characteristics of the mental model of a given work team in making strategic decisions for organization performance.…”

Reconceptualizing cybersecurity awareness capability in the data-driven digital economy

“…Firstly, following DCV, the findings of this study extend the understanding of managerial roles in building CSAC (Adner & Helfat, 2003 ; Helfat & Peteraf, 2015 ). Extant studies on managerial roles in building dynamic capabilities have recognized the important relationship between quality of managerial decisions, strategic changes and firm performance (Helfat & Martin, 2015 ; Martin & Bachrach, 2018 ), and organizational capacity to change and maintain superior performance (Widianto et al, 2021 ). The theoretical underpinning of dynamic capabilities, therefore, will be of importance in cybersecurity issues, which are a serious concern among managers in the present rapidly changing business context.…”

Middle Managers’ Cognitive Styles, Capacity for Change, and Organizational Performance

“…When the managers with capability (in this case, managerial cognitive style) work collectively, they will contribute to the development of the organization’s capacity to change (Tabrizi, 2014; Sukoco et al, 2021b). The OCC enables the organizations to transform individual capabilities of middle-level managers into performance (Judge & Elenkov, 2005; Widianto et al, 2021). When the organization can learn, able to accommodate the change process effectively and efficiently, and the organizational context for change is better (Soparnot, 2011, Sukoco et al, 2021b), then, it enables the organizations to transform the capabilities of middle managers into organizational performance.…”

“…To have better organizational performance, the organizations should develop its response (Hurley et al, 2005), consequently, the organizational capabilities have to be transformed into the OCC (Widianto et al, 2021). The study of Klarner et al (2008) exhibits that the managerial capabilities (in this case, managerial cognitive style) must be able to transform into OCC so that organizational changes improve organizational performance.…”

“…We conducted this study in an Indonesian public sector organization; thus, the generalizability of the results is limited. Future studies may use different national contexts or cross-cultural differences to increase the evidence of OCC in public organizations (Widianto et al, 2021). Moreover, comparing public and private organizations on cognitive styles of the middle managers and the contribution on organizational capacity for change development could be interesting future studies.…”