An empirical examination of vacillation theory

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kang, Jingoo; Kang, Ribuga; Kim, Sang-Joon
• 署名单位: Nanyang Technological University; Chinese University of Hong Kong; Ewha Womans University
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.2588
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1356-1370
• 关键词: exploration and exploitation; vacillation theory; ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY; organizational change; firm performance

摘要

Research summary: Since Nickerson and Zenger (2002) proposed how vacillation may lead to organizational ambidexterity, large-sample empirical tests of their theory have been missing. In this paper, we empirically examine the performance implications of vacillation. Building upon vacillation theory, we predict that the frequency and scale of vacillation will have inverted U-shaped relationships with firm performance. We test our hypotheses using patent-based measures of exploration and exploitation in the context of technological innovation and knowledge search.Managerial summary: Firms often shift their focus on technological innovation and knowledge search from seeking new and novel knowledge (i.e., exploration) to extending and refining existing knowledge (i.e., exploitation) or vice versa. We examine how the frequency and scale of firms vacillating between exploration and exploitation may affect their performance. We find that both too infrequent or too frequent changes and a too small or too large scale of changes are not desirable. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.