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Building a Contextually Agile Workforce

delete2026-06-14
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Paula Caligiuri *
DOI:10.1002/hrm.70086delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Human resource management (HRM) theory has long recognized that context shapes employee behavior and performance. Less developed is the employee competency through which individuals determine what a given context requires and adjust their behavior accordingly. This article develops contextual agility as a competency needed when expectations, norms, cues, or relationships are unfamiliar, unstable, conflicting, or under-specified. Under these conditions, routine responses are often insufficient; employees must adapt, recombine, or construct responses that fit the context. I argue that contextual agility operates through three interrelated processes: attentional openness, regulatory flexibility, and response enactment. At the individual level, these processes are supported by six durable skills: curiosity, humility, resilience, tolerance of ambiguity, perspective-taking, and relationship-building. The article contributes to HRM theory by specifying contextual agility as a competency that links contextual demands to appropriate behavioral responses, and by explaining how HR systems can select, develop, reinforce, and scale this competency to build a contextually agile workforce.
Keywords:
contextual agility
cultural agility
dynamic capabilities
HRM
soft skills
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Journal

H
Human Resource Management
IF:
9
Papers:
68
Citations:
0

Organization

N
Northeastern University
Scholars:
2.3W
Papers: 1.5W
Citations: 3.0W