Building organizational resilience in SMEs: the key role of digital technologies, transformational leadership, and innovation Martín Rojas, Rodrigo Garrido-Moreno, Aurora García Morales, Víctor Jesús Organizational resilience Digital technologies Innovation capability Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. This study was funded by the Andalusian Regional Government (projects: C‐SEJ‐185‐UGR23) and by the Excellence Unit for Advanced Research in Economics and Business of the University of Granada (Spain). In today’s complex economic environment, resilience is a strategic factor that en ables businesses to adapt to external changes, undertake in transformative activities and emerge stronger from challenging situations. Although it has therefore become vital for businesses, there is a lack of empirical studies analyzing the main variables that drive resilience-building and performance in the context of SMEs. This is par ticularly relevant, as these firms play a crucial role in the economy, but sometimes f ind it difficult to adapt quickly to sudden disruptions by updating their business operations. This article empirically examines the impact of digital technologies, transformational leadership and innovation capability as decisive determinants of organizational resilience development in SMEs. Adopting a dynamic capabilities’ approach, this quantitative study analyzes a sample of 206 SMEs operating in Spain and tests its hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling. Results show that transformation leadership and the use of digital technologies play a key role in fos tering organizational resilience, and have been identified as core drivers. Findings also emphasize the crucial relevance of SMEs’ innovation capability in this process. Resilience is emerging as a critical dynamic capability for anticipating change and managing disruptive events, as it has been proven to enhance business performance directly. The findings have important implications for scholars and managers alike, showing firms how to become more resilient by implementing digital technologies and effective leadership to foster innovation and create business value in the current uncertain landscape. 2026-01-21T10:36:32Z 2026-01-21T10:36:32Z 2026-01-16 journal article Martín-Rojas, R., Garrido-Moreno, A. & García-Morales, V.J. Building organizational resilience in SMEs: the key role of digital technologies, transformational leadership, and innovation. Rev Manag Sci (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-025-00965-z 1863-6691 1863-6683 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110025 10.1007/s11846-025-00965-z eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Springer Nature