SENSING UNDER INSTITUTIONAL VOLATILITY: COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE CAPABILITY AND STRATEGIC RESILIENCE IN ZIMBABWE’S ARTISANAL GOLD-MINING ENTERPRISES
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Abstract
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is economically indispensable across much of sub-Saharan Africa, yet the enterprises that sustain it often operate amid regulatory ambiguity, volatile gold markets, technological constraints, environmental pressures, and recurrent operational disruption. Although competitive intelligence has been widely examined in large and formal organisations, its value for informal, resource-constrained extractive enterprises remains insufficiently theorised and tested. This article examineds whether competitive intelligence capability is associated with strategic resilience among artisanal gold-mining enterprises in Chegutu District, Zimbabwe. Drawing on Dynamic Capabilities Theory and a capability-based conception of organisational resilience, competitive intelligence is conceptualised as a structured capacity to acquire and use regulatory, market, environmental, technological, and competitor information. The article reporteds one empirically tested objective from a broader sequential exploratory mixed-methods study. Contextual insights from 25 key informants informed construct refinement, after which questionnaires were administered to 382 respondents and 347 usable responses were obtained. Competitive intelligence capability and strategic resilience were measured with five-item composite scales. Simple linear regression showed a strong positive association between the constructs, R = .708, R² = .501, adjusted R² = .499, F(1, 345) = 173.52, p < .001. Competitive intelligence capability significantly predicted strategic resilience (B = .652, SE = .050, β = .708, t = 13.18, p < .001). The findings indicated that intelligence capability is a consequential organisational resource for anticipating change, maintaining continuity, adapting operations, managing risk, and learning from disruption. The article extended dynamic-capabilities scholarship into informal extractive enterprise settings and proposed a context-sensitive intelligence-to-resilience mechanism. Because the design is cross-sectional and based on self-reported measures, the results established predictive association rather than definitive causality. Policy and managerial implications centred on verified intelligence hubs, early-warning systems, accessible regulatory communication, mobile information channels, and collective learning arrangements.
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