Innovation-Traction Across Boundaries in Ambidextrous Organizations

The advantages of organizational ambidexterity achieved through structural differentiation have been well studied recently. However, the potential benefits resulting from interactions between structurally separated explorative and exploitative units to share knowledge and information has thus far been widely neglected. In order to gain a better understanding of the effects of boundary spanning activities in structurally differentiated ambidextrous organizations, this study examined the impact of institutionalized information exchange and side changers from the exploitative to the explorative side or vice versa on radical and incremental innovation. The analyzed dataset was collected with a quantitative survey and is based on a sample of 875 manufacturing plants located in Switzerland. Our findings indicate that boundary spanning activities between explorative and exploitative units are related to the frequency of development of incremental as well as radical innovations and therefore may play an important role in the pursuit of ambidexterity and continuous innovation.