Modelling the Joint Impact of the CEO and the TMT on Organizational Ambidexterity

abstract While researchers continue to debate how firms might attain ambidexterity, recent research demonstrates that top management teams (TMTs) play a pivotal role. We enrich this line of inquiry by specifying a model that blends the effect of the CEO and the TMT on ambidexterity. Specifically, given the importance of networking and building social capital to the access of timely, valuable, and diverse information, we first envision that the CEO's network extensiveness will positively impact ambidexterity. Next, we argue that this impact will be bolstered when the CEO–TMT interactional interface, including communication richness, functional complementarity, and power decentralization, enable the entire TMT to process disparate information demands essential to attaining ambidexterity. We test and find general support for our model using multi‐source survey data from 122 small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).