Building ambidexterity: The role of human resource practices in the performance of firms from Spain

Abstract

Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue ambidextrous learning—that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. In this study, we attempt to bring human resource management into this forum by introducing and testing how high‐involvement human resource practices shape the social climate that affects the firm's ambidextrous learning and subsequent performance. A field study of 198 companies from Spain showed that high‐involvement human resource practices were positively related to the social climate that, in turn, facilitates ambidextrous learning and improved performance. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The contingent role of distributed leadership in the relationship between HR practices and organizational ambidexterity in the cross-border M&As of emerging market multinationals

“…Using the context of the emerging economies and cross-border M&As involving 84 deals, we found that formalized HR practices have a positive effect in enhancing the organizational ambidexterity of EMNEacquired subsidiaries. These findings support those of recent studies indicating that HR systems that assume the form of a high-performance work system can be an important antecedent of ambidexterity (Prieto andPilar Pérez Santana, 2012, Patel et al, 2013).…”

“…It has been suggested that organizational ambidexterity plays an important role in enhancing the performance of firms Birkinshaw, 2008, Raisch et al, 2009), but its potentially enabling antecedents are not well known, and existing studies often report conflicting results (Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008). Recently, scholars have focused their attention on understanding the role of HR management practices on organizational ambidexterity (Prieto andPilar Pérez Santana, 2012, Patel et al, 2013), while others have focused on top management team characteristics and their influence on organizational ambidexterity (Simsek, 2009). To date, both streams of literature (HR and leadership) have evolved separately, with little cross-fertilization.…”

“…Among the challenges that arise in aligning the strategy of the firm with its resources and capabilities in a way that can lead to organizational ambidexterity and ensuing performance gains (Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008), some of the most important are HR practices (McClean andCollins, 2011, Prieto andPilar Pérez Santana, 2012) and leadership (Nemanich and Vera, 2009, Mom, Fourné and Jansen, 2015, Yitzhack Halevi, Carmeli and Brueller, 2015.…”

Comportamento Estratégico e Ambidestria: um estudo aplicado junto às empresas vinícolas brasileiras

“…Nevertheless, Prieto and Santana (2012) identified that the commitment and involvement of human resources in organizations is positively related to social climate, which in turn facilitates the development of ambidexterity and improves performance. Ramachandran (2012) argues that ambidexterity can be acquired not only through the balance between exploration and exploitation actions, as called for March (1991), but also through actions directed at one of the dimensions in particular.…”

High performance work systems and corporate performance: the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning

“…Considering employees as a key source of competitive advantage, strategic human resource management is gaining increasing importance in knowledge-based economies and rapidly changing environments (Prieto and Santana 2012;Sun et al 2007). As valuable, rare and inimitable assets for organizations because of their firm-specific, socially complex and path-dependent characteristics, human resource practices help firms obtain sustainable competitive advantages (Collins and Clark 2003).…”