Main Theme: This paper explores how organisations develop digital-enabled strategic agility through the lens of organisational sensemaking. It argues that existing dynamic capability perspectives are insufficient and proposes a novel framework based on intertwined "actions" and "meaning" to remove equivocality in responding to environmental dynamism.

Digital-Enabled Strategic Agility: This is defined as extending strategic agility by incorporating digital technologies essential for sensing and responding to environmental dynamism. It involves remaining flexible, adjusting strategic direction, and developing innovative ways to create value, all enhanced by a "digitally enabled backbone." "

Organisational Sensemaking: The research uses organisational sensemaking theory to explain how firms interpret and act upon environmental cues. This involves two key elements: external sensing and equivocality removal. Sensemaking is not simply about shared meaning but a "discourse" that shapes how people make sense of themselves and the world around them. The discourse then translates into routinized actions.

Digital Orientation: This is conceptualised as a high-level discourse representing organisational actors' collective cognitive framework for digital technologies. It's a strategic positioning to leverage digital opportunities, driving organizational plans, behaviour and performance. It represents the shared cognitive frameworks and interpretive structures that guide how organizational actors perceive and respond to environmental signals.

Information Governance: This is theorized as providing the organisational routines and structures required for action, structuring how organizations manage, process, and act upon information. It serves as a process facilitator, enabling sensemaking by managing information flows. Ineffective information governance can negatively impact digital agility.

Digital Transformation: Defined as a qualitative change in how an organisation operates, enabled by digital technologies (SMACIT: Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud, and Internet of Things). It's a focal point for operational meaning and action.

Theoretical Implications:

• Extends the literature on strategic agility by introducing a sensemaking-informed perspective.
• Highlights the importance of information governance in interpreting environmental cues.
• Provides an empirically supported framework explaining how digital transformation affects digitally enabled strategic agility.
• Demonstrates the collective impact of digital orientation, information governance, and digital transformation on digitally enabled strategic agility.
• Show that firms gain strategic agility either by investing in information governance or digital transformation.

Practical Implications:

• Provides managers with a blueprint for achieving digital-enabled strategic agility.
• Highlights the importance of fostering a digital-oriented mindset.
• Suggest a sequential approach: invest in digital orientation and information governance first, then digital transformation.
• Emphasizes the complementarity of the three pathways (H1, H2 and H3) in achieving digital-enabled strategic agility.

Source: Malik et al 2025 "An organisational sensemaking theorising of how firms construct digital-enabled strategic agility" at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720625000333