Managers’ Work Experience, Ambidexterity, and Performance: The Contingency Role of the Work Context

Scholars have suggested that we need a better understanding about the drivers and performance implications of managers’ ambidexterity. By building a human resource management perspective on managers’ ambidexterity, this article not only examines organizational and functional tenure as important antecedents, but also provides novel insights into the contextual conditions under which the ambidextrous behavior of managers contributes to individual performance. Based on survey research among managers of two large firms, our results indicate that while organizational tenure contributes to managers’ ambidextrous behavior, functional tenure actually limits such complex behavior. Our study also reveals how managers’ performance results from the interaction between their ambidextrous behavior and the uncertainty as well as the interdependence of their work context. Results indicate that managers’ ambidexterity contributes to individual performance in more uncertain and interdependent work contexts. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[1]  Julian Birkinshaw,et al.  Ambidexterity and Survival in Corporate Venture Units , 2014 .

[2]  Pankaj C. Patel,et al.  Walking the Tightrope: An Assessment of the Relationship between High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Ambidexterity , 2013 .

[3]  S. Tarba,et al.  Organizational Ambidexterity and Performance: A Meta-Analysis , 2013 .

[4]  David P. Lepak,et al.  How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-analytic Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms , 2012 .

[5]  Silvia Cantarello,et al.  The intellectual structure of organizational ambidexterity: A bibliographic investigation into the state of the art , 2012 .

[6]  M. Alvesson,et al.  A Stupidity‐Based Theory of Organizations , 2012 .

[7]  Isabel M. Prieto,et al.  Building ambidexterity: The role of human resource practices in the performance of firms from Spain , 2012 .

[8]  Katsu Shimizu,et al.  Risks of Corporate Entrepreneurship: Autonomy and Agency Issues , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[9]  Matthew J. Bidwell,et al.  Paying More to Get Less , 2011 .

[10]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  Organizational Ambidexterity in Action: How Managers Explore and Exploit , 2011 .

[11]  J. Pfeffer,et al.  Time is tight: how higher economic value of time increases feelings of time pressure. , 2011, The Journal of applied psychology.

[12]  Wendy K. Smith,et al.  Toward a Theory of Paradox: A Dynamic equilibrium Model of Organizing , 2011 .

[13]  Sebastian Raisch,et al.  Ambidextrous leadership: Emerging challenges for business and HR leaders , 2011 .

[14]  Paul Matthyssens,et al.  Top Management Team Functional Diversity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of CEO Characteristics , 2010 .

[15]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AGE WITH JOB ATTITUDES: A META‐ANALYSIS , 2010 .

[16]  Vas Taras,et al.  Examining the impact of Culture's consequences: a three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions. , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[17]  M. Tushman,et al.  Exploration and Exploitation Within and Across Organizations , 2010 .

[18]  M. Zollo,et al.  The neuro-scientific foundations of the exploration-exploitation dilemma , 2010 .

[19]  Reeshad S. Dalal,et al.  A Within-Person Approach to Work Behavior and Performance: Concurrent and Lagged Citizenship-Counterproductivity Associations, and Dynamic Relationships with Affect and Overall Job Performance , 2009 .

[20]  Qing Cao,et al.  Unpacking Organizational Ambidexterity: Dimensions, Contingencies, and Synergistic Effects , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[21]  Constantine Andriopoulos,et al.  Exploitation-Exploration Tensions and Organizational Ambidexterity: Managing Paradoxes of Innovation , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[22]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Understanding Variation in Managers' Ambidexterity: Investigating Direct and Interaction Effects of Formal Structural and Personal Coordination Mechanisms , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[23]  Julian Birkinshaw,et al.  Organizational Ambidexterity: Balancing Exploitation and Exploration for Sustained Performance , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[24]  Gregory A. Bigley,et al.  COMBINED EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL IDENTIFICATION ON THE RECIPROCITY DYNAMIC FOR PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES , 2009 .

[25]  Frans van den Bosch,et al.  Structural differentiation and corporate venturing : the moderating role of formal and informal integration mechanisms , 2009 .

[26]  Zeki Simsek Organizational Ambidexterity: Towards a Multilevel Understanding , 2009 .

[27]  Katherine A. Lawrence,et al.  Behavioral complexity in leadership: The psychometric properties of a new instrument to measure behavioral repertoire ☆ , 2009 .

[28]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Strategic leadership for exploration and exploitation: The moderating role of environmental dynamism , 2009 .

[29]  S. Snell,et al.  Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management , 2009 .

[30]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Structural Differentiation and Ambidexterity: The Mediating Role of Integration Mechanisms , 2008, Organ. Sci..

[31]  Nancy P. Rothbard,et al.  Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[32]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  Organizational Ambidexterity: Antecedents, Outcomes, and Moderators , 2008 .

[33]  Andrew A. King,et al.  Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: A Longitudinal Analysis of an Industry Self-Regulatory Institution , 2008 .

[34]  Boris Groysberg,et al.  Can They Take It With Them? The Portability of Star Knowledge Workers' Performance , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[35]  Ioannis Voyiatzis,et al.  Embedding test patterns into Low-Power BIST sequences , 2007, 13th IEEE International On-Line Testing Symposium (IOLTS 2007).

[36]  Allen C. Amason,et al.  Don't Take it Personally: Exploring Cognitive Conflict as a Mediator of Affective Conflict , 2007 .

[37]  Roger Martin,et al.  How successful leaders think. , 2007, Harvard business review.

[38]  S. Parker,et al.  A new model of work role performance: Positive behavior in uncertain and interdependent contexts , 2007 .

[39]  Gerardine DeSanctis,et al.  *The Relationship between Task Interdependency and Role Stress: A Revisit of the Job Demandscontrol Model , 2007 .

[40]  John J. Gabarro Cuando un nuevo ejecutivo asume el mando , 2007 .

[41]  Tom J. M. Mom,et al.  Investigating Managers' Exploration and Exploitation Activities: The Influence of Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Horizontal Knowledge Inflows , 2006 .

[42]  Douglas J. Sego,et al.  FACTORS AFFECTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM TRAINED TASKS ON THE JOB , 2006 .

[43]  M. Lubatkin,et al.  Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to Medium-Sized Firms: The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration , 2006 .

[44]  Ken G. Smith,et al.  The interplay between exploration and exploitation. , 2006 .

[45]  Karl Aquino,et al.  Getting even or moving on? Power, procedural justice, and types of offense as predictors of revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and avoidance in organizations. , 2006, The Journal of applied psychology.

[46]  Gary P. Pisano,et al.  The Firm Specificity of Individual Performance: Evidence from Cardiac Surgery , 2006, Manag. Sci..

[47]  Wendy K. Smith,et al.  Managing Strategic Contradictions: A Top Management Model for Managing Innovation Streams , 2005 .

[48]  Mohan Subramaniam,et al.  The Influence of Intellectual Capital on the Types of Innovative Capabilities , 2005 .

[49]  M. Riketta Organizational identification: A meta-analysis , 2005 .

[50]  James Guthrie,et al.  HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND LABOR PRODUCTIVITY: DOES INDUSTRY MATTER? , 2005 .

[51]  Rajiv D. Banker,et al.  Productivity Change, Technical Progress, and Relative Efficiency Change in the Public Accounting Industry , 2005, Manag. Sci..

[52]  Sabine Sonnentag,et al.  Psychological Management of Individual Performance: Sonnentag/Psychological Management , 2005 .

[53]  Zi-Lin He,et al.  Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[54]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  THE ANTECEDENTS, CONSEQUENCES AND MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY , 2004 .

[55]  M. Tushman,et al.  The ambidextrous organization. , 2004, Harvard business review.

[56]  Syed Shariq,et al.  Learning, Institutions, and Economic Performance , 2004, Perspectives on Politics.

[57]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  Building Ambidexterity Into an Organization , 2004 .

[58]  Thomas E. Becker,et al.  Matching Commitment to Supervisors and Organizations to In-Role and Extra-Role Performance , 2003 .

[59]  Michael C. Sturman,et al.  Searching for the Inverted U-Shaped Relationship Between Time and Performance: Meta-Analyses of the Experience/Performance, Tenure/Performance, and Age/Performance Relationships , 2003 .

[60]  Ray Reagans,et al.  Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range , 2003 .

[61]  Mikael Holmqvist,et al.  Experiential Learning Processes of Exploitation and Exploration Within and Between Organisations : An Empirical Study of Product Development, Department of Business Studies , 2003 .

[62]  Janice M. Beyer,et al.  Building on the Past: Enacting Established Personal Identities in a New Work Setting , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[63]  M. Rotundo The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: a policy-capturing approach. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[64]  P. Ackerman,et al.  Current-events knowledge in adults: an investigation of age, intelligence, and nonability determinants. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[65]  Onne Janssen Fairness perceptions as a moderator in the curvilinear relationships between job demands, and job performance and job satisfaction , 2001 .

[66]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Voluntary Turnover, Social Capital, and Organizational Performance , 2001 .

[67]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  So many ties, so little time: A task contingency perspective on corporate social capital in organizations , 2001 .

[68]  Raymond T. Sparrowe,et al.  Social Networks and the Performance of Individuals and Groups , 2001 .

[69]  Rita Gunther McGrath Exploratory Learning, Innovative Capacity, and Managerial Oversight , 2001 .

[70]  David Guile,et al.  Learning Through Work Experience , 2001 .

[71]  Michael A. McDaniel,et al.  The stability of validity coefficients over time: Ackerman's (1988) model and the general aptitude test battery. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[72]  Carrie R. Leana,et al.  Stability and Change as Simultaneous Experiences in Organizational Life , 2000 .

[73]  Willow A. Sheremata Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in Radical New Product Development Under Time Pressure , 2000 .

[74]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Strategizing Throughout the Organization: Managing Role Conflict in Strategic Renewal , 2000 .

[75]  H. Simon,et al.  Studies of Scientific Discovery: Complementary Approaches and Convergent Findings , 1999 .

[76]  David P. Lepak,et al.  The Human Resource Architecture: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Allocation and Development , 1999 .

[77]  Adler,et al.  Flexibility versus efficiency? A case study of model changeovers in the Toyota production system , 1999 .

[78]  Paul E. Tesluk,et al.  Toward an integrated model of work experience. , 1998 .

[79]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[80]  D. Chambers,et al.  Strategic decision-making processes: the role of management and context , 1998 .

[81]  W. Boeker Strategic Change: The Influence Of Managerial Characteristics And Organizational Growth , 1997 .

[82]  M. Tushman,et al.  Ambidextrous Organizations: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change , 1996 .

[83]  K. M. Kacmar,et al.  P=f(M X A): Cognitive Ability as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Personality and Job Performance , 1995 .

[84]  Mark S. Teachout,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK EXPERIENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A CONCEPTUAL AND META‐ANALYTIC REVIEW , 1995 .

[85]  D. Denison,et al.  Paradox and Performance: Toward a Theory of Behavioral Complexity in Managerial Leadership , 1995 .

[86]  Michael J. Stevens,et al.  Career-Related Antecedents and Outcomes of Job Rotation , 1994 .

[87]  M. Dirsmith,et al.  Coordination and Control in a Government Agency: Contingency and Institutional Theory Perspectives on GAO Audits , 1994 .

[88]  J. Edwards The Study of Congruence in Organizational Behavior Research: Critique and a Proposed Alternative , 1994 .

[89]  Rachid M. Zeffane,et al.  The Effects of Task Characteristics and Sub-Unit Structure on Dimensions of Information Processing , 1993, Inf. Process. Manag..

[90]  S. Snell,et al.  Integrated Manufacturing and Job Design: Moderating Effects of Organizational Inertia , 1991 .

[91]  L. J. Williams,et al.  Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship and In-Role Behaviors , 1991 .

[92]  J. March Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning , 1991, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[93]  Edward J. Zajac,et al.  Ceo selection, succession, compensation and firm performance: A theoretical integration and empirical analysis , 1990 .

[94]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[95]  Jennifer A. Chatman Matching People and Organizations: Selection and Socialization in Public Accounting Firms , 1989 .

[96]  A. Bandura,et al.  Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision making. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[97]  Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld,et al.  Staffing Policy as a Strategic Response: A Typology of Career Systems , 1988 .

[98]  Mary Pat McEnrue,et al.  Length of Experience and The Performance of Managers in the Establishment Phase of their Careers , 1988 .

[99]  D. Campbell Task Complexity: A Review and Analysis , 1988 .

[100]  Frances J. Milliken Three Types of Perceived Uncertainty About the Environment: State, Effect, and Response Uncertainty , 1987 .

[101]  L. H. Chusmir,et al.  Creativity differences among managers , 1986 .

[102]  S. Fiske,et al.  Structure and development of social schemata: Evidence from positive and negative transfer effects. , 1985 .

[103]  R. Leifer,et al.  Research Notes. USING SIMULTANEOUS STRUCTURES TO COPE WITH UNCERTAINTY. , 1983 .

[104]  Richard Leifer,et al.  Using Simultaneous Structures to Cope With Uncertainty , 1983 .

[105]  J. Whitney,et al.  Effects of Group Cohesiveness on Attitude Polarization and the Acquisition of Knowledge in a Strategic Planning Context , 1983 .

[106]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Measures of Perrow's Work Unit Technology: An Empirical Assessment and a New Scale , 1983 .

[107]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Representing and testing organizational theories: A holistic construal. , 1982 .

[108]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  The effects of the social context on performance evaluations , 1982 .

[109]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. , 1977 .

[110]  D. C. Feldman,et al.  A Contingency Theory of Socialization , 1976 .

[111]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Determinants of Coordination Modes within Organizations , 1976 .