Digital platform capability and organizational agility of emerging market manufacturing SMEs: The mediating role of intellectual capital and the moderating role of environmental dynamism

In this study, we untangle the relationship between digital platform capability and organizational agility in the manufacturing sector small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by investigating the mediating role of intellectual capital and the moderating role of environmental dynamism. Using a time-lagged two-wave survey of 227 manufacturing SMEs, we tested our proposed hypotheses using structural equational modeling (SEM). Our results reveal that digital platform capability is positively associated with the agility of SMEs and that all three intellectual capital dimensions (i.e., human, organizational, and relational capital) mediate this relationship. We also found that environmental dynamism has a negative moderating role on digital platform capability and intellectual capital. Environmental dynamism curbs SMEs’ abilities to turn their digital platform capabilities into increased intellectual capital. Our results shed light on the importance of intellectual capital in creating improved organizational agility for manufacturing SMEs through digital platform capability within the boundary conditions of environmental dynamism.