Social Media and Organizational Resilience in ICT SMEs: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Luis Alfonzo Zea Jiménez; María del Pilar M. Pérez Hernández

doi:10.4067/s0718-27242026000100031

Authors

Luis Alfonzo Zea-Jiménez Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering and Social and Administrative Sciences (UPIICSA),Instituto Politécnico Nacional , Mexico City, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0231-0806
Pilar Pérez-Hernández Center for Economic, Administrative, and Social Research (CIECAS), Instituto Politécnico Nacional , Mexico City, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1352-6004

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-27242026000100031

Keywords:

Organizational resilience, Dynamic capabilities, Social Media, Digital maturity, Technology-based SMEs, Grounded theory

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises face escalating disruptions necessitating dynamic organizational resilience (the capacity to anticipate, cope with, and adapt to crises). While social media (SM) is recognized as a strategic resource, the mechanisms through which it amplifies specific organizational resilience stages remain underspecified. Drawing on 14 organizations embedded in Guadalajara's ICT ecosystem, this study employs grounded theory to identify six functional SM dimensions: organizational communication, digital marketing, social customer relationship management, digital communities, knowledge management, and collaborative innovation, operating across three maturity levels (foundational, intermediate, advanced). Findings suggest differentiated pathways in which foundational dimensions primarily strengthen operational coping, an effect associated with the activation of seizing capabilities, while advanced dimensions appear to function as higher-order dynamic capabilities that draw on the sensing and seizing infrastructures established in prior stages to support anticipation and adaptation through institutionalized learning, suggesting a path-dependent developmental trajectory for resilience. By integrating Dynamic Capabilities Theory with established stage-based resilience frameworks, this research illustrates how SM platforms may sequentially enable sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities across crisis phases. Finally, contextual factors such as ecosystem density and absorptive capacity may moderate these effects, delineating the boundary conditions for generalizability beyond high-density regional clusters.

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Author Biographies

Luis Alfonzo Zea-Jiménez, Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering and Social and Administrative Sciences (UPIICSA),Instituto Politécnico Nacional , Mexico City, Mexico

Luis Alfonzo Zea Jiménez is a Doctoral Candidate in Innovation Management and Policy at the National Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Politécnico Nacional - México). He holds a Master’s degree in Technology Change Management and Policy and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering. Mr. Zea Jiménez possesses a hybrid professional profile, integrating over 25 years of strategic experience in the private sector with rigorous academic research in innovation systems and technological foresight. His primary research interests include the impact of digital social networks on technology-based entrepreneurship and the study of organizational dynamic capabilities. He has served as a consultant and researcher for prestigious institutions, including the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Directorate of Foresight and Technological Intelligence (TecnoPoli-IPN). Currently, he serves on academic evaluation committees and has authored several international publications on digital transformation and technological change management.

Pilar Pérez-Hernández, Center for Economic, Administrative, and Social Research (CIECAS), Instituto Politécnico Nacional , Mexico City, Mexico

María del Pilar M. Pérez Hernández is the Director of the Center for Economic, Administrative, and Social Research (CIECAS) at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN-Mexico). She holds a PhD in Economics and Innovation Management from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Her research focuses on innovation systems, university-industry technology transfer, and academic entrepreneurship. A member of the National System of Researchers (SNI Level 1), she has published over 20 articles and several books on technological change.

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