Strategic Agility and Sustainable Performance of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic agility has increasingly become a critical determinant of sustainable organizational performance in dynamic and uncertain operating environments. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Kenya continue to face sustainability challenges stemming from donor dependence, shifting community needs, regulatory pressures, and heightened accountability demands. Despite the important role played by NGOs in socio-economic development, the NGO sector sustainability index in Kenya remains within the “sustainability evolving” stage, indicating persistent organizational vulnerabilities. Although strategic agility has been widely associated with organizational adaptability and resilience in private sector studies, limited empirical evidence exists on its influence on the sustainable performance of NGOs in Kenya. This study examined the effect of strategic agility on the sustainable performance of NGOs operating within the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), Kenya. Specifically, the study assessed the influence of responsiveness, decision-making, technological capabilities, and leadership unity on sustainable performance. Guided by Dynamic Capability Theory and the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study adopted a positivist philosophy and explanatory correlational research design. Data were collected from 217 executive directors and managers selected from 518 registered NGOs operating within the LREB region using structured questionnaires administered through Kobo Toolbox. Reliability and validity tests confirmed the adequacy of the research instrument, with all Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding the recommended threshold of 0.70. The findings revealed that strategic agility significantly and positively influenced sustainable performance among NGOs (R² = 0.567, p < .001), explaining 56.7% of the variation in sustainability outcomes. Decision-making (β = 0.238, p = .021) emerged as the strongest predictor of sustainable performance, followed by responsiveness (β = 0.224, p = .003), leadership unity (β = 0.185, p = .049), and technological capabilities (β = 0.177, p = .033). The study concludes that strategic agility is a critical organizational capability that enhances sustainable performance through improved adaptability, responsiveness, operational efficiency, and organizational resilience. The study recommends that NGOs strengthen agile decision-making structures, invest in responsive organizational systems, enhance leadership cohesion, and adopt appropriate technological capabilities to improve long-term sustainability.