The impact of organizational context and competences on innovation ambidexterity

Research into organization theory contains abundant evidence of the positive effects of ambidexterity on a firm's performance, and of the influence of organizational context on ambidexterity. The present research tests whether organizational context affects innovation ambidexterity. Our results, based on a dataset of 108 large innovative firms, show that firms combining exploration innovation and exploitation innovation should adopt long-term practices that favor risk taking and creativity, and thereby build an organizational context suited to innovation ambidexterity. Competences were found to have a strong moderating effect. These results haveimportant managerial and theoretical implications. In the case of innovation, firms that simultaneously pursue exploitation and exploration activities should carefully consider how they combine competences and organizational context.