Does More CEO Ambivalence Lead to Higher Organizational Ambidexterity? A Paradoxical Perspective

To cope with discontinuous change, recent research advocates to implement ambidexterity in which firms pursue exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation simultaneously. While previous studies on the determinants of organizational ambidexterity focused primarily on the organizational characteristics and the behavior of top management teams, a growing body of research calls attention to the role of the paradoxical cognitive frame of top managers in managing organizational ambidexterity. This article examines whether CEO ambivalence—a paradoxical cognitive frame that accepts and accommodates the presence of both threats and opportunities of a strategic issue such as a crisis—drives or hinders organizational ambidexterity. Moreover, although both exploitation and exploration require the deployment of technological capability, whether technological capability inhibits or facilitates managerial cognition to adapt to environmental change remains a puzzle to be solved. Based on the theory of paradoxical cognitive frame, this article predicts that CEO ambivalence follows a U-shaped effect on organizational ambidexterity while technological capability amplifies the curvilinear effect. A longitudinal survey among 260 CEOs of Chinese firms provides empirical support to the hypotheses. The research findings contain rich theoretical and managerial implications.