Building Institutional Adaptability in Higher Education through Agile Leadership and Self-Organizing Capacity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51454/jet.v7i3.997Keywords:
agile leadership, institutional adaptability, self-organizing capacity, higher education, organizational agilityAbstract
This study examines how agile leadership contributes to institutional adaptability in higher education through self-organizing capacity. Using a quantitative explanatory design, data from 142 academic and managerial personnel were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that agile leadership significantly influences self-organizing capacity (β = 0.812, p < 0.001) and institutional adaptability (β = 0.430, p < 0.001), while self-organizing capacity also significantly affects institutional adaptability (β = 0.515, p < 0.001). The model explains 65.9% of the variance in self-organizing capacity and 81.0% in institutional adaptability. Mediation analysis confirms a complementary partial mediation effect (β = 0.418, p < 0.001), indicating that agile leadership strengthens adaptability both directly and by enabling distributed coordination, shared responsibility, and adaptive problem-solving. By integrating Dynamic Capabilities Theory, Complexity Leadership Theory, and Organizational Agility, this study positions self-organizing capacity as a meso-level mechanism connecting leader-level agility with institution-level adaptability. The findings suggest that universities should develop guided autonomy, cross-unit collaboration, continuous learning, and data-informed decision-making.
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