Leading through complexity: an integrative review and contingent innovation framework

Abstract

Purpose – This integrative review synthesizes research on adaptive, agile, complexity and ambidextrous leadership and innovation under VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) to clarify how leaders orchestrate context-sensitive (“contingent”) innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020, we searched Scopus (December 29, 2025), screened 85 records and synthesized 34 journal articles (2015–2025). We appraised evidence [Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT)-informed for empirical papers; conceptual-rigor checklist for conceptual papers] and analyzed it using a concept-centric coding matrix. Findings – Four themes recur: (1) leadership as sensemaking/framing and enabling experimentation; (2) innovation as exploration–exploitation balancing (ambidexterity), often expressed at the level of an evolving innovation initiative portfolio; (3) psychological safety, trust, organizational support and self-efficacy as mechanisms for innovative work behavior; and (4) dynamic capabilities that transform experiments into reconfiguration. We develop a four-proposition framework that integrates these themes by specifying mediation pathways and boundary conditions (portfolio governance routines and coordination overload). Research limitations/implications – Theory-building synthesis; propositions require empirical testing. Practical implications – The framework serves as a diagnostic and action tool and provides scenario-based leadership routines for balancing experimentation with disciplined alignment. Originality/value – We define contingent innovation capability as an organizational orchestration capability–comprising sensing, portfolio governance and integration/reconfiguration routines–and explain how adaptive leadership behaviors develop and activate it to couple safe-to-fail experimentation with disciplined integration as contingencies shift.