Exploring the implementation of the ambidextrous organization through collaborative crowdsourcing technology

The organizational realization of ambidextrous innovation processes, characterized by the simultaneous pursuit of innovation exploration and exploitation, has been recognized as an important source of long-term competitive advantage for the last few decades. However, scholars are no closer to understanding how organizations can effectively manage the contradictory tensions of radical and incremental innovation to operationally implement dual innovation processes internally. Drawing on theories of organizational ambidexterity–namely contextual ambidexterity–we position collaborative crowdsourcing technology as an enabler of both exploratory and exploitative innovation processes to explore its potential for achieving organizational ambidexterity. We conducted an empirical investigation using longitudinal case studies with four large organizations, engaged in innovative activities with different crowds of individuals, via a collaborative crowdsourcing technology. Our results provide strong support for the technology as an enabling mechanism of organizational ambidexterity and reflect on these findings in the context of crowds of differing composition. This IT-mediated solution for achieving dual innovation processes represents a significant advance in our understanding of the ambidextrous organization.