A Dynamic Capability–Resilience Mechanism For Sustained Organizational Performance

Abstract

Business continuity management (BCM) is increasingly expected to do more than restore operations after disruption: it must help organizations anticipate threats, mobilize resources, adapt operating configurations and sustain stakeholder value under prolonged uncertainty. Yet the literatures on BCM, organizational resilience, dynamic capabilities and sustainability remain only partially integrated. This study develops a Sustainability-Embedded Dynamic Business Continuity Capability (SE-DBCC) framework in which BCM capability provides the preparedness architecture, organizational resilience acts as the principal value-conversion mechanism, dynamic capabilities enable sensing, coordination, improvisation and reconfiguration, and sustainability integration extends continuity decisions toward long-term environmental, social and economic viability. The theoretical model is grounded in a critical synthesis of more than forty peer-reviewed research papers spanning BCM evolution and embeddedness, resilience, crisis management, dynamic capabilities, supply-chain resilience, information-system continuity and sustainable resilience. An exploratory pilot survey of 30 organizational respondents is used to assess measurement reliability and preliminary nomological relationships. All five multi-item constructs show acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .765–.872). BCM capability is strongly associated with organizational resilience (r = .791) and organizational performance (r = .821). Regression results show significant effects of BCM on resilience (β = .826, p < .001) and performance (β = .861, p < .001), while resilience predicts performance (β = .829, p < .001). Bootstrapping indicates a significant indirect BCM → resilience → performance effect of .389 (95% CI [.153, .652]), consistent with partial mediation. Dynamic capabilities predict resilience directly but the BCM × dynamic-capabilities interaction is not significant in the pilot. The study contributes a mechanism-based conceptualization of BCM and a transparent pilot validation that can be extended through multi-sector, large-sample SEM research.