Dr: Ali Abdullah Al Atoum
Jerash University College of Business Department of Administrative Sciences
Abstract:
Background:
Organizational Ambidexterity (OA) is defined as a firm’s capability to exploit efficiencies and explore new opportunities concurrently. This capability is critical for long-term performance. This study will consider the effect of OA, and OA’s dimensions of exploitation and exploration, on strategic performance in technology-intensive firms from the Arabian Gulf (GCC) region.
Methods:
This study utilized a descriptive-analytical approach. The study poppedlation comprised of 35 high technology firms listed on GCC stock exchanges in 2023. A survey was sent to senior and middle managers of the firms and received a total of 410 valid responses. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression (MLR) using SPSS to test the hypothese.
Results:
The results show a powerful, positive, and statistically significant influence of overall organizational ambidexterity on strategic performance (R² = .563), meaning that 56.3% of the variance on performance is attributable to OA. While both exploitation (t=9.263, p=.000) and exploration (t=9.583, p=.000) were significant individual predictors, an important nuance became evident: while firms evidenced a preference for exploitation activities in the descriptive data, the regression model revealed exploration to have a slightly stronger relative influence on strategic performance (β = .510 compared to exploitation, β = .480).
Conclusion:
: Organizational ambidexterity is an important source of strategic performance in the GCC’s technology sector. However, the study suggests that there may be a potential strategic imbalance whereby firms lean too heavily toward operational exploitation, and don’t practice exploration to the extent that exploitation is practised, despite its greater strategic value. In order to sustainably create a competitive advantage for their firms and support broader regional economic diversification goals, organizations not only need to be ambidextrous, but they need to strategically think about the balance of their activities and concentrate more on exploration, and actively encourage and reward exploration to realize their full performance potential.