Ambidextrous strategy, institutional support and disruptive innovation: an fsQCA analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the rise of emerging economies such as China, disruptive innovation (DI) has become a significant way for enterprises to catch up with incumbents. This paper aims to study the impacts of ambidextrous strategies and institutional support on DI. We constructed a theoretical model containing six antecedent conditions and a result variable, including technology ambidextrous balance strategy (TABS), technology ambidextrous complementation strategy (TACS), market ambidextrous balance strategy (MABS), market ambidextrous complementation strategy (MACS), formal institutional support (FS), informal institutional support (IS) and DI. Based on set theory ideas, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was conducted on 230 Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The findings show that: (1) a single antecedent can't alone constitute the necessary conditions for DI; (2) three antecedent configurations can lead to DI; and (3) in particular conditions, ambidextrous strategies and institutional support could be matched to achieve DI. This study offers an alternative approach to understanding factors influencing DI by using set theory ideas and has practical value for promoting DI.