A Theory of Marketing Resilience in Nigerian Firms: Institutional Pressures, Strategic Marketing Adaptation, and Performance Outcomes

This study constructs and empirically validates an original theory of marketing resilience in Nigerian firms, examining how institutional pressures trigger strategic marketing adaptation responses that determine performance outcomes in conditions of environmental turbulence. Nigeria's business environment is characterised by multi-layered institutional voids including macroeconomic volatility, regulatory unpredictability, currency instability, and infrastructure deficits, collectively constituting conditions of chronic turbulence that challenge marketing strategy stability. Existing resilience theories in management and marketing have been developed predominantly in crisis-episode frameworks applicable to Western firms, leaving under-theorised the adaptive marketing mechanisms Nigerian firms deploy under persistent institutional pressure. Drawing on institutional theory, the dynamic capabilities framework, and the strategic marketing flexibility literature, the study proposes an original theory of marketing resilience with three core propositions relating institutional pressure types to specific adaptation mechanisms (product portfolio adjustment, pricing recalibration, distribution agility, and communication pivoting) and performance outcomes. A grounded theory qualitative design in the first phase involves 50 in-depth interviews with senior marketing executives across six geopolitical zones, followed by quantitative validation through a survey of 480 firms and SEM analysis. The study makes a foundational theoretical contribution to marketing strategy under adversity in African institutional contexts. Keywords: marketing resilience, institutional theory, strategic adaptation, turbulent environments, Nigeria