Abstract
There is no doubt that an organization’s innovation performance determines its long-term success. Yet, to be successful in the short term, companies need to leverage their existing capabilities to exploit current opportunities. To manage these allegedly opposing objectives, building an organization’s capacity of ambidexterity, i.e. exploiting existing opportunities by enhancing efficiency and exploring new customers and markets through more radical improvements, has been discussed. To extend the understanding of how an ambidextrous capability can be established, we examine the role of an organization’s creativity-supporting environment as a determinant of ambidexterity. Based on a review of the literature, we model hypothesized interrelations between the three. Using survey data from 277 CEOs of German manufacturing companies, hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping reveal the ambivalent influence of a creativity-supporting environment on ambidexterity and, in turn, innovation performance. Whereas creativity-supporting mechanisms influence innovation performance not only directly, but also indirectly through ambidexterity, a culture for creativity influences innovation performance only through ambidexterity as a mediator. In general, we can confirm the positive effect of ambidexterity on innovation performance. We then discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice. We also state the limitations of this study and provide suggestions for further research.