Proactive resilience in the face of black swan events: The power of organisational learning and digital orientation in digital entrepreneurship

In an era of turbulence, digital entrepreneurship (DE) has emerged as a key driver of economic growth and proactive resilience (PR) - the capability to anticipate, prepare for, and capitalise on disruption. However, digital enterprises, deeply embedded in digital ecosystems, face heightened risks due to the global interconnectedness of economies, which demands continuous adaptation and innovation. Traditional resilience models that emphasise stability fall short of addressing the dynamic capabilities needed to navigate today's volatile environment. This study investigates how learning culture (LC), entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and digital orientation (DO) interact to foster decentralised decision-making (DDM)—a dynamic capability that enables agility and, in turn, strengthens proactive resilience. Based on a survey of 129 digital entrepreneurs, we examine if and how LC, EO, and DO influence DDM, while also analysing the potential influence of DDM on PR. We find direct positive effects of LC and DO on DDM, whereas EO shows no direct effect. Furthermore, DDM has a positive impact on proactive resilience, mediating the effects of LC and DO. These results suggest that digital enterprises build proactive resilience not merely by reacting to shocks, but by embedding learning and digital capabilities into decentralised structures that empower fast, informed, and context-specific decisions. The study advances dynamic capabilities theory by clarifying how digital entrepreneurship leverages learning and digital orientation to transform uncertainty into opportunity, providing both theoretical and practical insights into how organisations can thrive—not just survive—amid disruption. • Learning culture fosters decentralised decision-making in digital enterprises. • Digital orientation supports decentralised decision-making and enhances proactive resilience. • Entrepreneurial orientation shows no direct link to decentralised decisions. • Decentralised decision-making boosts proactive resilience in volatile contexts. • Digital firms thrive by combining learning, tech use, and structural flexibility.