Leveraging Disruption: Antifragility, Absorptive Capacity, and Organisational Learning in Startups

Organisations increasingly face frequent disruptions, requiring innovative strategies to navigate uncertainty. In African entrepreneurial ecosystems, political instability, economic volatility, and environmental pressures often make traditional resilience strategies ineffective. This study explores how startups in these ecosystems achieve antifragility—turning disruptions into growth—through absorptive capacity and organisational learning. Using a two-wave survey of 209 Ghanaian startups and lagged financial performance data, we apply Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling. Our findings highlight antifragility as a key driver of financial performance, revealing complexities in absorptive capacity. Potential absorptive capacity aids knowledge acquisition during instability, while realised absorptive capacity fosters innovation, contingent on strategic alignment. Additionally, we show that organisational learning leverages feedback loops to transform disruptions into opportunities. By prioritising adaptability over stability, startups develop antifragile capabilities, fostering growth in volatile environments. These insights offer theoretical contributions and practical strategies for building adaptive entrepreneurial ecosystems.