Ambidexterity in International Joint Ventures: Moderating Roles of Institutional and Relational Factors

Abstract

Integrating institutional and relational views in the ambidexterity literature, we develop a framework suggesting that institutional distance and coordination mechanisms between foreign and local partners could shape the relationship between ambidexterity and IJV new product performance. Collecting both primary and secondary data from a sample of 198 IJVs in China, our research findings reveal that political distance strengthens the effect of ambidexterity on IJV new product performance, whereas cultural distance does not condition the ambidexterity-IJV new product performance relationship. In addition, we find that relational coordination facilitates the success of ambidexterity. In contrast, contractual coordination could hinder the implementation of ambidexterity in IJVs. We contribute to the theory and practice by developing a rich explanation of the effectiveness of ambidexterity in the context of IJVs.