At the interface: Balancing efficiency and innovation

Abstract

Organizational research has indicated the need for organizations to balance efficiency and innovation to retrieve growth and high performance. A remaining question is, can public sector organizations be efficient and innovative? We use the theoretical framework of ambidexterity and ambidextrous design to frame this question. More precisely has ambidexterity literature proposed two designs to simultaneously achieve a balance between exploitation, efficiency and, exploration, innovation: structural ambidexterity and contextual ambidexterity. Based on these designs, we selected four design and two leadership conditions: differentiation, centralization, forceful leadership, autonomy, context, and enabling leadership and performed a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to answer the following research question: “What is the role of ambidextrous design and leadership for public sector organizations seeking to balance efficiency and innovation?” We gathered data through a detailed quantitative survey across pu...