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Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) operating in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments face unprecedented managerial challenges. Over the last few years, traditional hierarchical control systems have become less suitable for developing the agility and innovation needed to maintain institutional performance. To date, research has focused on agile leadership and knowledge management separately, but there is a significant gap in the theoretical and empirical literature on their interaction within the higher education system in Iraq. This paper attempts to fill this gap by exploring the interaction between agile leadership, processes of knowledge management (tacit and explicit), and institutional performance. The study uses a quantitative descriptive-analytical approach in the light of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory. The data were gathered by a structured questionnaire from academic staff members of Al-Mustansiriyah and Al-Nahrain Universities using purposive sampling, yielding 109 academic staff respondents. The hypothesized relationships were tested by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicate that both agile leadership and knowledge management are significant positive predictors of institutional performance. Importantly, the analysis shows a significant synergy (R2 = 0.681), meaning that the effect of this set of constructs is greater together than apart. The present study adds to the literature by linking the RBV and DC theories in a theoretical manner to explain this synergy, providing guidelines for HEI administrators on how to match adaptive leadership with the Knowledge Infrastructure, and showing methodological rigor by using advanced SEM validation techniques.

DOI

10.33095/2227-703X.4359

Article Type

Research Article

Subject Area

Managerial

First Page

23

Last Page

36

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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