Leveraging digital transformation and agile slack to integrate team‐level I‐deals with strategic agility for enhancing international performance

Abstract

AbstractPurposeThe article aims to trace how small‐ and medium‐sized export enterprises thrive in international performance by leveraging potential human resources from team‐level idiosyncratic employment arrangements (I‐deals) and organizational capability from strategic agility through digital transformation and agile slack.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to test the hypotheses based on evidence from 327 teams at 77 export small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises in Vietnam.FindingsThe findings provide a novel perspective on the critical role of team‐level I‐deals and strategic agility for thriving small‐ and medium‐sized exporters' international performance via the buffering and transforming firm capabilities, namely digital transformation and agile slack.Originality/valueThis study combines the resource‐based view and the dynamic capabilities to examine the impact of firm capabilities with team‐level ideals and strategic agility on international performance.