Organizational Ambidexterity as an Institutionally Constrained Dynamic Capability: Evidence from Indonesian State Owned Enterprises
Faculty Advisor:
Year:
Introductory Excerpt
Despite extensive research on organizational ambidexterity, dominant theoretical frameworks largely conceptualize ambidexterity as a discretionary managerial capability exercised within governance environments characterized by symmetric risk, tolerance for exploratory failure, and market-based accountability. These assumptions limit the explanatory power of existing theory in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), where strategic action is mediated by public accountability, regulatory oversight, political scrutiny, and legitimacy expectations. In such contexts, ambidexterity is not freely chosen or optimally balanced; rather, it constitutes an institutionally constrained dynamic capability, whose activation, scope, and durability depend on how governance arrangements structure managerial discretion and redistribute risk.
This dissertation addresses this gap by reconceptualizing organizational ambidexterity in SOEs as a dynamic capability that is selectively enabled, constrained, and recalibrated under institutional conditions. Rather than treating ambidexterity as a static balance, structural configuration, or performance ideal, the study theorizes it as a temporally evolving capability shaped by leadership judgment, governance-mediated legitimacy, and the sequencing of exploitation and exploration within bounded discretion.
Using a longitudinal, comparative qualitative research design, the study examines four major Indonesian SOEs operating in aviation, ports and logistics, telecommunications, and banking, sectors characterized by differing regulatory intensity and risk profiles. Data are triangulated across senior executive interviews, internal strategic documents, performance records, and archival sources to trace ambidexterity capability trajectories over time. The analysis identifies recurring ambidexterity configurations; constrained,
emerging, mature, and integrated, not as deterministic stages, but as empirically observable manifestations of capability maturity under shared institutional conditions.
The findings advance ambidexterity theory by shifting the analytical focus from balance or maximization toward contextual calibration under institutional constraint, and by specifying governance-mediated mechanisms through which exploration and exploitation are authorized, bounded, and sustained. The study further extends dynamic capability theory by demonstrating dynamic capability activities that are selectively activated when strategic discretion is institutionally conditioned. To translate these insights into practice, the dissertation culminates in an Executive Ambidexterity Toolkit that supports executive judgment by diagnosing ambidexterity configurations, identifying miscalibration risks across eleven organizational dimensions, and aligning strategic choices with governance expectations. While empirically grounded in Indonesia, the mechanisms and tools developed are analytically transferable to other institutionally embedded organizations.
Keywords: organizational ambidexterity; dynamic capability; institutional constraint; state-owned enterprises; governance; executive judgment; Indonesia.
This dissertation addresses this gap by reconceptualizing organizational ambidexterity in SOEs as a dynamic capability that is selectively enabled, constrained, and recalibrated under institutional conditions. Rather than treating ambidexterity as a static balance, structural configuration, or performance ideal, the study theorizes it as a temporally evolving capability shaped by leadership judgment, governance-mediated legitimacy, and the sequencing of exploitation and exploration within bounded discretion.
Using a longitudinal, comparative qualitative research design, the study examines four major Indonesian SOEs operating in aviation, ports and logistics, telecommunications, and banking, sectors characterized by differing regulatory intensity and risk profiles. Data are triangulated across senior executive interviews, internal strategic documents, performance records, and archival sources to trace ambidexterity capability trajectories over time. The analysis identifies recurring ambidexterity configurations; constrained,
emerging, mature, and integrated, not as deterministic stages, but as empirically observable manifestations of capability maturity under shared institutional conditions.
The findings advance ambidexterity theory by shifting the analytical focus from balance or maximization toward contextual calibration under institutional constraint, and by specifying governance-mediated mechanisms through which exploration and exploitation are authorized, bounded, and sustained. The study further extends dynamic capability theory by demonstrating dynamic capability activities that are selectively activated when strategic discretion is institutionally conditioned. To translate these insights into practice, the dissertation culminates in an Executive Ambidexterity Toolkit that supports executive judgment by diagnosing ambidexterity configurations, identifying miscalibration risks across eleven organizational dimensions, and aligning strategic choices with governance expectations. While empirically grounded in Indonesia, the mechanisms and tools developed are analytically transferable to other institutionally embedded organizations.
Keywords: organizational ambidexterity; dynamic capability; institutional constraint; state-owned enterprises; governance; executive judgment; Indonesia.
