Hello From the Other Side: External Stakeholder Paradoxes Matter for Organizational Ambidexterity

Organizational ambidexterity (OA)—the simultaneous pursuit of explorative and exploitative innovations—engenders nested (paradoxes manifesting across organizational levels) and knotted paradoxes (intertwined co-occurring paradoxes at the same or across organizational levels). Both nested and knotted paradoxes are managed by internal stakeholders using approaches that are socially constructed by influences emanating from within and beyond an organization. External stakeholders also help shape organizational innovations but their influence on the management of paradoxes has largely been overlooked. In this study, we collected and analyzed data from internal ( n = 19) and external stakeholders ( n = 18) in organizations pursuing explorative and exploitative clean energy transitions at nine Canadian energy utilities. We find that the external stakeholders engage with knotted inclusivity–efficiency and existing–emerging needs paradoxes. Our findings add to OA and business and society literature by revealing how the approaches that internal and external stakeholders adopt for paradox management have implications for each other, and thus OA. We also provide practical insight into how external stakeholder paradoxes can be managed through stakeholder inclusivity and enhanced transparency of innovation plans, with positive implications for OA.