The Curvilinear Relationships Between Top Decision Maker Goal Orientations and Firm Ambidexterity: Moderating Effect of Role Experience

Abstract

Ambidextrous firms are those that can simultaneously manage exploitative and explorative innovation, which is why ambidexterity is key for firms that desire to pursue strategic entrepreneurship. Researchers have explored many of the reasons why some firms are more ambidextrous than others. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding how attributes of top decision makers can influence their firms' ambidexterity. By drawing on upper echelons theory and goal orientations research, we explain how firms' ambidexterity can be affected by top decision makers' motivations in achievement situations (i.e., goal orientations). Testing our hypotheses on a sample of 274 top decision makers of firms in the United States, we find that top decision makers' learning goal orientation – their desire to take risks and maximize learning–has an inverted U-shaped relationship with ambidexterity while top decision makers' performance prove goal orientation – their desire to demonstrate competence with existing skills – has a U-shaped relationship with ambidexterity. These effects are weaker for top decision makers who have greater role experience.

Resolving Strategic Dilemmas in Ambidextrous Organizations: An Integrated Second-Order Factor Model Perspective

“… Chen et al (2020b) find that alignment coping combination enhances IA by reshaping an entrepreneur’s cognitive structure. Also, Pryor et al (2021) explain how organizational ambidexterity can be affected by top decision makers’ motivations. Likewise, psychology theory is employed (implicitly or explicitly) in contingency-based management accounting research to examine organizational performance as the dependent variable ( Gerdin and Greve, 2004 ).…”

Ambidexterity and absorptive capacity in boundary-spanning managers: role of paradox mindset and learning goal orientation

“…In the context of frontline service employees (who are boundary spanners), prior research (Yen et al, 2021;Yu et al, 2015) finds that LGO first influences their engagement in cross-selling activities, and such engagements are critical for IA (service-sales ambidexterity in this case). As an indicator of the desire to take risks and maximize learning, LGO of top decision-makers (such as CEOs) enhances ambidexterity (Mammassis and Kostopoulos, 2019;Pryor et al, 2021). To examine both internal and external factors influencing IA using data from executives in China, Xiang et al (2019) identify a significant and positive relationship between LGO and IA.…”