Walking the Tightrope: An Assessment of the Relationship between High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Ambidexterity

• Published in: Academy of Management journal 2013-10, Vol.56 (5), p.1420-1442
• Main Authors: Patel, Pankaj C, Messersmith, Jake G, Lepak, David P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Evaluation; High tech industries; Human resource management; Human resources; Organizational behavior; Organizational behaviour; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME; Small and medium sized enterprises; Studies; Trust; U.S.A
• ISSN: 0001-4273; 1948-0989
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0255

This study explores central questions related to the connections between a firm's human resources (HR) system and its ability to exhibit "organizational ambidexterity." We build from existing work on the behavioral view of ambidexterity to assess the extent to which the utilization of certain HR practices may be linked to a context marked by discipline, stretch, trust, and support. We further argue that these disparate practices may be combined into a single high-performance work system (HPWS), which allows the firm to achieve both the alignment and the adaptability necessary to produce ambidexterity. Thus, we examine HPWS as a systematic tool for enhancing organizational ambidexterity. We explore this link using data from 215 high-tech small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and find that HPWS utilization is positively related to a measure of organizational ambidexterity. In turn, ambidexterity mediates the relationship between HPWS utilization and firm growth. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]