A Revised Blueprint of the Ambidextrous Organization: Reuniting Structural and Contextual Theories

Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity research has remained divided into two disparate streams. While structural ambidexterity scholars argue that exploitation-exploration tensions can be reconciled by creating separate structural contexts for exploration, contextual ambidexterity research suggests establishing behavioral contexts that allow pursuing both activities within the mainstream organization. In this paper, we argue that both structural and behavioral dimensions define organizational contexts and that it is the interplay between the two that leads to organizational outcomes such as exploitative and explorative processes. Based on a Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 15 work units in three ambidextrous firms, we provide a set-theoretic model of how structural and behavioral context elements are combined to organizational context configurations that enable exploitation, exploration, or both. Based on these findings, we integrate prior theorizing from structural and contextual ambidexterity scholars to establish a revised blueprint of the ambidextrous organization.