MODELLING DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AS GENERATIVE MECHANISMS IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL COORDINATION: EVIDENCE FROM CHIANG MAI’S WILDFIRE RISK MANAGEMENT NETWORK

Abstract

This investigation formulates a layered, digitally enabled causal framework to explain inter-organisational coordination within Wildfire Risk Management Networks (WRMNs). Using a Critical Realist (CR) perspective alongside Grounded Theory (GT), the study redefines Dynamic Capabilities (DCs) as Generative Mechanisms (GMs) functioning within the “real” domain.  Empirical evidence was derived from 54 comprehensive interviews undertaken in three sequential rounds with 20 stakeholders located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The analysis reveals four principal DCs—connective, absorptive, desorptive, and transformative—which serve as the central mechanisms supporting coordination activities. The findings additionally indicate that these mechanisms function through interdependent cybernetic feedback cycles, wherein DCs perform the roles of sensors, integrators, and effectors. These processes are significantly supported and channelled through digital infrastructures and e-government systems, enabling real-time information exchange and synchronised responses. By combining DCs, cybernetics, Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), and ecosystem theory within an integrated CR lens, the study offers a mechanistic interpretation of coordination. It demonstrates how digitally enabled capabilities create, organise, and reshape inter-organisational coordination across complex multi-actor settings. Consequently, the research contributes to organisational theory and digital governance by linking capability-oriented and socio-technical interpretations of coordination, while offering important practical implications for designing digitally enabled governance systems in complex disaster management contexts.