How does digital new venture's customer orientation enhance strategic agility? The roles of strategic learning

The existing literature highlights the importance of customer orientation in enhancing strategic agility. However, certain studies have highlighted the adverse effects of customer orientation, particularly for resource-limited digital new ventures. This study aims to reconcile these divergent views by differentiating strategic agility into two dimensions: entrepreneurial agility and adaptive agility. This study attributes the varying effects of customer orientation on these two types of strategic agility to different mediating roles of strategic learning. While strategic learning enhances entrepreneurial agility, it has an inverted U-shaped impact on adaptive agility. Furthermore, the study suggests that market turbulence moderates the effects of customer orientation. Survey data from Chinese digital new ventures supports the hypotheses. This research contributes to the agility literature by proposing strategic learning as an internal mechanism through which customer orientation influences strategic agility. It also highlights the impacts of external environmental conditions. The theoretical framework provides a harmonious explanation for the contrasting effects of customer orientation, offering valuable managerial insights for improving strategic agility.