Ambidextrous Use of Information Systems in an Organization

Ambidexterity in organizations, in general, is interpreted as flexibility that enables organizational innovation, which is important for survival in a competitive market. It applies to individual workers as well since the ambidexterity of explorational and exploitational IS use will enable the flexible transition between dynamic and operational work, and hence, increase the work performance. The current study will therefore investigate the individual levels of exploratory and exploitative IS use, as well as the complementary relationship between exploratory and exploitative IS use. In a third step, the differential influence of IS on work performance will be evaluated. The current study validated that complementary fit of IS use exploration and IS use exploitation increases performance. Polynomial regression and surface analysis are used to validate the incongruence of IS use pattern. They showed that the incongruence of ambidexterity is composed of two types of divergent vs. convergent ambidexterity which depends on the type of work that need dynamic or operational capability.