• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.270-280
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• 2022

There has been a stream of literature studying moderators of the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and firm performance, but there remains a lack of research on moderators with a strategic perspective. We examined the effect of organizational ambidexterity on a firm's long-term performance and the moderating effect of a firm's relative exploration and exploitation based on a sample of 8,916 firms. We found a positive relationship between organizational ambidexterity and long-term performance measured by Tobin's q. The results also suggest that a firm's relative exploration positively moderates the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and long-term performance, whereas exploitation negatively moderates this relationship. We contribute to the current ambidexterity literature by integrating it with strategy literature. We found that the positive relationship between organizational ambidexterity and long-term performance is enlarged and long-lasting when a firm is a differentiator. In contrast, this positive relationship is lessened and short-lasting when a firm is a cost-leader.