Resource-Induced Coping Heuristics and Organizational Ambidexterity in Context of Weak Institutions and Underdeveloped Markets
Eberi Kalu, Henrietta
Eberi Kalu, Henrietta
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End of Embargo
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The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
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Accepted for publication
Institution
University of Bradford
Department
School of Management. Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences
Awarded
2023
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Abstract
The current study contributes to the understanding of the micro foundations of organizational ambidexterity from the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in weak institutions and underdeveloped markets by focusing on three issues. First, drawing from the conservation of resources theory as a theoretical lens, this study explores the relationship between owner-managers’ resource-induced coping heuristics and organizational ambidexterity. Second, it investigates the mediating mechanism of entrepreneurial bricolage in this relationship. Third, it examines the boundary effects of financial resource capability and environmental dynamism in the first and second relationships, respectively. The quantitative study adopts a cross-sectional survey design. Data collected from 273 Nigerian owner-managers in multi-sector industries was analyzed using AMOS in structural equation modelling. The results show that resource-induced coping heuristics leads to SME ambidexterity and that entrepreneurial bricolage serves as the mechanism which transforms owner-managers’ resource-induced coping heuristics into exploration and exploitation. Surprisingly, the results reveal that environmental dynamism impedes the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and exploration but facilitates exploitation through bricolage. This study sets new, empirically founded information about drivers of ambidexterity in the context of weak institutions and underdeveloped markets by showing that resource-induced coping heuristic serves as a coping mechanism which fosters the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation through entrepreneurial bricolage. Additionally, by revealing that, in a more dynamic environment, SMEs are less likely to pursue exploration through entrepreneurial bricolage, this study makes a novel and significant contextual contribution on the implications of environmental dynamism for organizational outcomes in weak institutions.
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Thesis
Qualification name
PhD