The Financial Technology (FinTech) industry has emerged as a transformative force in global finance, yet the existing literature offers only limited understanding of the systemic mechanisms that underpin ecosystem resilience and sustainability beyond the initial phases of disruption. While considerable research has examined firm-level strategies and regulatory frameworks, critical gaps remain regarding relational dynamics among ecosystem actors, ecosystem-level dynamic capabilities, and integrated critical success factors (CSFs) that determine long-term viability. This study addresses these gaps through an in-depth investigation of relational dynamics, dynamic capabilities, and CSFs within FinTech ecosystems, using Jordan as a distinctive case of regulator-led ecosystem orchestration.The research adopts a qualitative methodology grounded in interpretivist epistemology, applying a case study design of the Jordanian FinTech ecosystem. Primary data were collected through 34 semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders, including executives from FinTech firms, traditional financial institutions, regulatory authorities, government, technology providers, venture capitalists, and academic experts. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2021) reflexive thematic analysis within an abductive reasoning framework, enabling iterative engagement between empirical evidence and theoretical enhancement.Three complementary theoretical perspectives frame the analysis: social network and network theories for relational dynamics; Teece’s dynamic capabilities framework extended to the ecosystem level; and Rockart’s CSFs theory adapted for multi-actor contexts. Integrated through systems theory, these perspectives explain how ecosystems generate emergent properties that exceed the sum of individual organizational capabilities. Findings reveal that Jordan’s FinTech ecosystem operates through a form of “orchestrated relational resilience,” supported by three novel mechanisms: stewardship centrality (where regulators exercise strategic restraint rather than dominance), reciprocal legitimacy circulation (where mutual dependencies provide ecosystem-wide benefits), and constructive multiplexity (where collaboration and competition coexist across domains). Dynamic capabilities evident as collaborative sensing through distributed intelligence, coordinated seizing via resource pooling and joint action, and distributed transforming through network-level adaptation. Five interconnected CSF dimensions underpin ecosystem effectiveness: organizational (ecosystem-wide thinking and collaborative culture), resource (human capital and technological assets), market (financial literacy and constructive competition), regulatory (flexible frameworks and experimentation infrastructures), and technological infrastructure (interoperability and security).The study advances theory in several ways. It extends network and social network theoretical foundations by showing how embeddedness functions through orchestrated integration and reconceptualizing social capital as dynamic exchange processes. It also develops dynamic capabilities theory by demonstrating how sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities operate as collaborative, network-embedded phenomena rather than solely organizational efforts. It further proposes an integrated CSFs framework showing how success arises from systemic coordination across multiple dimensions rather than isolated enablers.Jordan’s regulator-led and facilitator-oriented model contrasts sharply with the American free-market, African collaborative, and Singaporean state-centric approaches. This model illustrates how regulators can act as facilitators rather than gatekeepers, how collaboration and competition can coexist productively, and how emerging market ecosystems can build competitive advantage through coordinated cooperation rather than individualistic rivalry.This research represents one of the first comprehensive empirical analysis of a regulator-led FinTech ecosystem, uncovering coordination mechanisms that challenge prevailing theoretical frameworks. It contributes novel theoretical extensions while offering practical guidance for policymakers and industry stakeholders on designing and managing sustainable FinTech ecosystems in emerging markets. By integrating relational dynamics, dynamic capabilities, and CSFs, the study provides both scholarly advancement and actionable insights for ecosystem development, management, and policy.
The rapid rise of financial technology (fintech) has redefined the operational and competitive
dynamics of Nigeria’s banking industry. This conceptual paper examines how traditional banks
strategically adapt to fintech-driven disruptions by integrating agility, innovation, and dynamic
capabilities. Drawing from the dynamic capabilities and strategic agility frameworks, the study
explores how Nigerian banks can sense technological opportunities, seize emerging markets, and
reconfigure resources for sustained competitiveness. The paper identifies key adaptation
challenges, including regulatory uncertainty, cybersecurity risks, and infrastructural deficits,
while highlighting best practices such as leadership agility, digital partnerships, and hybrid
innovation strategies. It contributes to the strategic management discourse by offering a contextspecific model of adaptation for developing economies. The findings underscore the importance
of aligning technological transformation with strategic foresight to ensure long-term
organizational resilience in a rapidly evolving financial ecosystem.
Alexandra Idaere Korubo-Fi· INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOC...· 0 citations
Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractContemporary organizations face mounting pressure to adapt beyond the imperatives of market competition, navigating demands that span digital disruption, sustainability transitions, and systemic institutional change. Despite the centrality of dynamic capabilities as an explanatory framework in strategic management, the literature has predominantly examined them through the lens of competitive advantage, leaving broader organizational and societal applications underexplored. This study addresses that gap by examining how the dynamic capabilities framework is theorized and applied in contexts beyond firm-level competitive advantage. A systematic literature review combined with bibliometric analysis was conducted using Scopus, covering peer-reviewed publications from 1995 to 2025. Three search strings, dynamic capabilities and technology, dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity, and dynamic capabilities and sustainability, yielded 750 articles after applying inclusion, exclusion, and quality criteria. VOSviewer was used for keyword co-occurrence mapping and cluster visualization, while qualitative thematic coding was conducted in MAXQDA to deepen interpretation. The analysis identified four structurally interconnected clusters: innovation, digital transformation, technology, and sustainability. The findings suggest that innovation is frequently treated in the literature as a key enactment mechanism of dynamic capabilities, with 691 co-occurrences and 215 overlapping coded segments. Sustainability represented the largest and most rapidly expanding domain, with 352 filtered articles, while technology functioned as an enabling layer rather than a capability in itself. These findings demonstrate that dynamic capabilities are undergoing a substantive reorientation, from performance-centric mechanisms toward integrative governance processes for navigating socio-technical complexity. Organizations should embed dynamic capabilities in innovation routines, digitally supported sensing processes, and sustainability-aligned strategic priorities.
Kristian Pultz Schlosser· Problems and Perspectives in...· 0 citations
Fintech has become a critical infrastructure for electronic commerce, enabling digital payments, platform transactions, online financial services, and trust-based exchanges. However, innovation and rapid adoption do not necessarily ensure long-term survival. Fintech viability also depends on regulatory legitimacy, organisational capabilities, ecosystem compatibility, and growing demands for trust, resilience, sustainability, and responsible data use. This study therefore shifts attention from fintech adoption to Fintech Survival Drivers (FSD) and asks which drivers experts identify as determinants of fintech survival. Using a multi-round Fuzzy Delphi study, we identify the conditions that enable fintech innovations to become scalable, reliable, and sustainable business models. A heterogeneous panel of 21 European experts from nine fintech ecosystem domains and 13 countries completed the study between 2023 and 2025. The results directly answer the research question by organising the identified FSD into three evolutionary states: a retained core, a context-dependent selection zone, and a contested frontier. The novelty of the research lies in integrating evolutionary selection mechanisms, institutional conditions, and the requirements of human-centric electronic commerce. The three states support this integrated framework: institutional forces explain which drivers acquire legitimacy and viability, while evolutionary dynamics explain how particular configurations are selected, retained, or contested. The study thus shows how FSD combine to support organisational survival and the continuity of digital transactions.
German DelValle-Araluce, Leire San-Jose, J. Retolaza· Electronic Commerce Research· 0 citations
This article synthesizes literature at the intersection of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) and the internationalization of small firms. We integrate insights from International Business (IB) and EE research domains to harmonize the conceptual differences between the two domains and develop an integrative model.
We perform a systematic literature review (SLR) of 43 peer-reviewed articles on EE and small firm internationalization. Our analysis employs the Gioia methodology to develop thematic codes that help synthesize knowledge on the subject.
Our analysis highlights several key microfoundational mechanisms, i.e. opportunity recognition, resource mobilization, network activation and learning, that mediate the translation of ecosystem-level structures into firm-level internationalization outcomes. We further unveil contextual moderators, i.e. EE maturity, institutional quality, digital embeddedness, industry characteristics and prior international experience, that shape these mechanisms' effectiveness. The review addresses five key issues: harmonizing conceptual differences between IB and EE, integrating born global and early internationalizing firm concepts, aligning multi-level perspectives, clarifying institutional roles and reconciling network conceptualizations.
Our analysis demonstrates the integration and complementarity of IB and EE literature in explaining firm internationalization behavior. By synthesizing the IB and EE literature, we create an integrated model that illustrates the complex connections inherent in EE and firm-level internationalization behavior.
The paper provides new perspectives to enhance the comprehension of how EE and IB disciplines might synergize rather than contradict each other in explaining the behavior of small firms in IB.
M. Marobhe, A. Wald· Journal of Small Business an...· 0 citations
This study investigates how institutional structures, resource capacities, entrepreneurial orientation, digital transformation readiness, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) integration shape the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems in North Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It applies the ESG–Digital Nexus perspective to explain differences in ecosystem maturity, innovation capacity, and sustainability-driven entrepreneurship across regions. A qualitative descriptive comparative design was employed, relying on secondary data from peer-reviewed journal articles, policy reports, and institutional publications published between 2018 and 2025. The analysis covers Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria in North Africa and compares them with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman in the GCC. A theory-guided thematic comparative analysis was conducted using an integrated framework combining Institutional Theory, the Resource-Based View (RBV), and the Entrepreneurial Orientation Model (EOM). The findings reveal clear regional disparities, with GCC countries demonstrating stronger institutional quality, more advanced digital infrastructure, greater access to entrepreneurial finance, higher ESG integration, and more innovation-oriented entrepreneurial cultures. In contrast, North African ecosystems face institutional fragmentation, limited financing opportunities, uneven digital readiness, and weaker ESG institutionalization. Overall, the findings indicate that entrepreneurial ecosystem maturity is driven by the interaction of institutional quality, resource capacity, entrepreneurial behaviour, digital transformation, and ESG governance, rather than by economic resources alone. The study is limited by its reliance on secondary qualitative data, which restricts firm-level insights and real-time assessment, and by differences in data availability and reporting standards across countries that may affect comparability. The findings suggest that policymakers should strengthen institutional quality, expand access to entrepreneurial finance, accelerate digital infrastructure development, and embed ESG principles into entrepreneurship support systems to improve ecosystem competitiveness and sustainability. The study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated ESG–Digital Nexus framework that unifies institutional, resource, behavioural, digital, and ESG dimensions into a comprehensive explanation of entrepreneurial ecosystem development and applies this framework to a comparative analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystems across North Africa and the GCC.
S. Raed· Journal of Economic Developm...· 0 citations
The construction industry operates in a highly volatile environment characterized by economic fluctuations, project uncertainties, and unexpected disruptions. Therefore, to withstand disruptions, firms increasingly seek to build resilience using digital tools alongside the development of organizational capabilities. However, the existing literature has broadly examined digital transformation (DT), dynamic capabilities (DCs), and organizational resilience (OR) either in isolation or through pairwise relationships. This study addresses that gap by investigating how DCs drive DT, which in turn fosters resilience in the construction industry. A multimethod qualitative design was adopted, combining 10 semistructured interviews with senior construction professionals, including consultants, managers, digital leaders, and chief executive officers (CEOs), with content analysis of six industry reports. Participants brought experience from both advanced economies, such as those in Europe and Australia, and emerging markets, including South Asia, providing insights into how contextual factors shape digitalization and resilience strategies. The findings demonstrate that DCs, through their microfoundations of sensing, seizing, and transforming, are critical enablers of DT. Digital technologies, such as building information modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, drones, and the Internet of Things (IoT), have been found to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and agility. Simultaneously, DT supports resilience by enabling firms to anticipate risks, adapt their operations, and recover effectively from disruptions using advanced digital tools. Notably, DT emerged as a transforming mechanism that operationalizes DCs into resilience outcomes. This study contributes to theory by extending the DC framework to a construction-specific context and by conceptualizing DT as a bridge between DCs and resilience. For practitioners, it highlights the importance of digital leadership, workforce training, and adaptive organizational structures in embedding resilience at the design and planning stages of projects. Future research should further examine these relationships across regions and subsectors to refine generalizability.
N. Wijayarathne, Indra Gunawan, F. Schultmann· Journal of construction engi...· 1 citation
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
