Building Resilient Organizations through Creativity and Adaptive Leadership: Lessons from Nigeria’s Telecommunications Industry

In an era of unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, the survival of organizations in emerging economies increasingly depends on their ability to adapt, innovate, and remain resilient. This study examines the combined influence of leadership and creativity on building organizational resilience and sustaining business performance within the Nigerian telecommunications industry, a sector marked by intense competition, regulatory complexity, and technological volatility. Drawing on theories of adaptive and transformational leadership as well as creativity and resilience frameworks, the study explores how leadership behaviors stimulate creativity-driven resilience that enables firms to withstand and recover from environmental shocks.
A quantitative research design was employed using data collected from 383 employees across major multinational and indigenous telecommunications firms in Nigeria. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the hypothesized relationships among leadership, creativity, resilience, and business survival. The results revealed that adaptive and transformational leadership styles significantly predict organisational resilience through the mediating role of creativity. Leaders who encourage experimentation, inspire innovation, and provide intellectual stimulation were found to enhance employees’ capacity to respond creatively to uncertainty. Furthermore, resilient firms demonstrated superior operational stability, stronger customer loyalty, and greater adaptability to technological and regulatory disruptions.
Theoretically, this study contributes to leadership and resilience literature by integrating creativity as a central mechanism linking leadership behaviours with long-term organisational adaptability. It advances understanding of how adaptive leadership functions within emerging market contexts, where structural constraints and resource limitations intensify the need for creative problem-solving. Practically, the findings underscore the necessity for leadership development programmes, HR strategies, and organisational policies that institutionalise creativity and resilience as strategic imperatives. Policymakers are also urged to design supportive regulatory frameworks that foster innovation and capacity building across the telecommunications ecosystem. Ultimately, this research provides both scholars and practitioners with actionable insights into how adaptive leadership and creativity can serve as twin pillars for building resilient organisations in volatile business environments.

Adaptive leadership, transformational leadership

1. Adler, P. S., & Borys, B. (1996). Two types of bureaucracy: Enabling and coercive. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393986 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity. Westview Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), 1154–1184. https://doi.org/10.2307/256995 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in organizations: A state-of-the-science review. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1297–1333. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314527128 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire: Manual and sampler set (3rd ed.). Mind Garden. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 315–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Cameron, K. S., & Dutton, J. E. (2003). Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline. Berrett-Koehler. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Carmeli, A., Friedman, Y., & Tishler, A. (2013). Cultivating a resilient top management team: The importance of relational connections and strategic decision comprehensiveness. Safety Science, 51(1), 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2012.06.002 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Duchek, S. (2020). Organizational resilience: A capability-based conceptualization. Business Research, 13, 215–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-019-0085-7 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Eisenbeiss, S. A., van Knippenberg, D., & Boerner, S. (2008). Transformational leadership and team innovation: Integrating team climate principles. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(6), 1438–1446. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012716 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2001). When openness to experience and conscientiousness are related to creative behavior: An interactional approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 513–524. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.513 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2021). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Hamel, G., & Välikangas, L. (2003). The quest for resilience. Harvard Business Review, 81(9), 52–65. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Kantur, D., & İseri-Say, A. (2012). Organizational resilience: A conceptual integrative framework. Journal of Management & Organization, 18(6), 762–773. https://doi.org/10.5172/jmo.2012.18.6.762 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Luthans, F., & Youssef, C. M. (2007). Emerging positive organizational behavior. Journal of Management, 33(3), 321–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307300814 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Mumford, M. D. (2003). Where have we been, where are we going? Taking stock in creativity research. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2–3), 107–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2003.9651403 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Nwokah, N. G., & Ahiauzu, A. I. (2010). Emotional intelligence and marketing effectiveness in corporate organizations in Nigeria. European Journal of Marketing, 44(7/8), 1153–1172. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561011047483 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Obiekwe, O. (2018). Effects of leadership style on organizational performance in small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. Journal of Business and Management Studies, 4(2), 56–67. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Okechukwu, E. (2022). Strategic adaptability and survival of telecommunication firms in Nigeria. African Journal of Business Management, 16(4), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM2022.9237 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Olowookere, E. I., & Adekeye, O. (2016). Leadership styles and creativity in Nigerian organizations. Nigerian Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, 4(1), 12–23. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Rhodes, M. (1961). An analysis of creativity. Phi Delta Kappan, 42(7), 305–310. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Runco, M. A., & Chand, I. (1995). Cognition and creativity. Educational Psychology Review, 7(3), 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02213373 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Stenholm, P., & Renko, M. (2016). Passionate bricoleurs and new venture survival. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(5), 595–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2016.05.002 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28(13), 1319–1350. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.640 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Tierney, P., & Farmer, S. M. (2002). Creative self-efficacy: Its potential antecedents and relationship to creative performance. Academy of Management Journal, 45(6), 1137–1148. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069429 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Wang, Y., Hong, A., Li, X., & Gao, J. (2014). Marketing innovation and firm performance in emerging markets: The moderating role of institutional voids. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), 63–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.11.008 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Pearson Education. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Indirect Effect of Liquidity and Activity on Company Value with Profitability as an Intervening Variable
• Effect of Financial Skills, Knowledge, and Attitude on The Financial Behaviour of Clergy
• A Decade of Review: Trends in Budget Execution and Financial Performance of Development Projects in Tanzania (2014/15-2023/24)
• The Influence of Pre-Project Planning on the Budget Absorption Rate of Public Funded Infrastructure Projects in Kenya a Comparative Case Study of Narok, Migori, and Kisii County Government Projects
• Assessment of Factors Influencing Digital Transformation in Hotels’ Facility Management in Abuja Metropolis, Nigeria