Crisis response strategies and organizational resilience of cargo airlines in Kenya

Abstract

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the airline industry, cargo airlines included, faced major disruptions due to global travel restrictions. As uncertainty grew, these companies had to adopt different strategies to stay afloat. This study looks specifically at how cargo airlines in Kenya responded, focusing on how their crisis strategies influenced organizational resilience. The research set out to achieve three goals: to assess how positioning, cost-cutting, and diversification strategies affected organizational resilience among these airlines. The study was based on the established business framework, such as the dynamic capability view, and the research used a correlational design targeting 25 cargo airlines. From each airline, respondents included top-level, mid-level and lower management, totaling 75 respondents, and the data collection tool was sampled through a pilot study. Data was gathered using online questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations and regression tests. The results indicated that diversification strategies had a positive and statistically significant effect on organizational resilience, underscoring the importance of strategic flexibility and market diversification in enhancing an organization's ability to adapt and thrive during crises. In contrast, both positioning and cost reduction strategies were found to have non-significant relationships with organizational resilience. The study contributes to theory by reinforcing the applicability of dynamic capability theory and Balance Scorecard in resilience research, and to practice by highlighting the importance of market and product diversification. Policy recommendations include the development of supportive frameworks for diversification and innovation in air cargo operations. Future research should explore the longitudinal impacts of strategic responses across varied contexts in Africa’s aviation sector.