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This study aims to investigate the relationship between dynamic capabilities and sustainable business performance in Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the mediating role of digitalization strategies. Specifically, the authors seek to explore whether and how the three critical characteristics of dynamic capabilities (DCs) – sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities – are linked to business model innovation (BMI) or sustained performance and what dimensions contribute to their development and adoption in digitalization strategies.

The authors analyse a sample of 596 Vietnamese SMEs using a validated measurement framework to explore the three clusters of DCs activities and their contributions to digitalization strategies, BMI and sustainable business performance across economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The study highlights the pivotal role of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities in the adoption of digitalization strategies, BMI, as well as in promoting sustainable business performance. Firstly, sensing capability profoundly influences product digitalization strategy, whereas seizing capability has the greatest impact on process digitalization strategy. Secondly, sensing and transforming capabilities significantly contribute to BMI. Thirdly, both process and product digitalization strategies exert a significant positive influence on sustainable business performance, especially the environmental dimension. Finally, the study exhibits the indirect impacts of seizing and sensing capabilities on sustainable business performance through product and process digitization strategies.

This study extends recent research by investigating the DCs underlying a firm’s digitalization strategies and contribute to ongoing calls for further investigation in the DCs literature. This research design, which draws from a validated measurement framework, responds to recent calls to broaden the toolkit used in DCs research. The practical implications of this study can benefit SMEs in Vietnam and beyond as they seek to enhance their digitalization strategies and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

Although change is a necessary part of organisational life, achieving a successful change is complex. Change readiness is a critical element in successful change implementation, yet studies assessing change readiness as an underlying mechanism in the link between organisational-level factors and successful change implementation are scarce, particularly in the African context. Accordingly, the present study examined the extent to which change readiness mediates the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation in the Ghanaian context.

The study utilized a standardized questionnaire to collect data from 364 participants, working in public and private universities in Ghana. The participants were selected via the convenience sampling strategy to complete the survey on the main variables at a single point in time. The study was purely quantitative, as path analysis – a form of structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships in the study.

The results show that both learning organisation and change readiness facilitated successful change implementation. Finally, it was observed that change readiness served as an important mediating mechanism in the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation.

Change readiness was found to explain the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation. Thus, it is important that managers and leaders of public and private sector educational institutions in Ghana invest resources into preparing and getting employees to accept, be committed to and ready for change.

The present study contributes to the scarce knowledge of the mediating role of change readiness in the link between learning organisation and successful change implementation in the African context.