Technological capacity and organisational ambidexterity: the moderating role of environmental dynamism on Portuguese technological SMEs

Abstract

This research aimed to study the influence of environmental dynamism and technological capacity on organisational ambidexterity (OA) and the moderating role of environmental dynamism in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). To this end, a structural equation model was applied to a sample of 224 SMEs in the sector of information technology, telecommunications and IT consultancy. The results obtained show that technological capacity has a significant, positive effect on OA as well as a statistically significant influence only in exploration but not in exploitation. And the moderating effect of environmental dynamism also has a positive effect in the relationship between technological capacity and OA, and stronger effect in the relationship between technological capacity and exploration. These results are consistent with the existing literature and shows that environmental dynamism and technological capacity influence OA in SMEs, but in a different way. Various implications for theory and practice are also presented.