An SLR of firm ambidexterity: organizing a future research path forward

Abstract

Purpose: Given that the literature in terms of business ambidexterity is continually growing, the of this paper is to identify the future research suggestions made by several authors with regard to ambidexterity and to group them into meaningful themes. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review (SLR) of peer reviewed journal articles in the field of ambidexterity was conducted. A total of 128 relevant articles were selected, which were published in 58 journals over the past 2 decades (2000–2021). Findings: The plethora of the future research suggestions made by several authors with regard to ambidexterity are analytically presented. Moreover, based on these suggestions, meaningful future research themes were revealed and these were further classified into three broad categories, namely “factors influencing the adoption of ambidexterity and its success”, “the types of ambidexterity” and “the effects of ambidexterity”. Research limitations/implications: The subjectivity of grouping the future research suggestions into themes as well as not examining the interrelationships among these themes, are limitations of the present study. Based on these limitations, future literature review studies can be conducted. Practical implications: As this is a SLR focusing on developing future ambidexterity research themes, there are no direct practitioner implications. However, practitioners may benefit from future research prompted by this SLR. Originality/value: This study contributes to management literature by suggesting future research not only on organizational ambidexterity like previous studies, but also on four different approaches to ambidexterity.