TY - JOUR

T1 - Sustainability-oriented technology exploration: managerial values, ambidextrous design, and separation drift

AU - Hansen, Erik Gunnar

AU - Wicki, Samuel

AU - Schaltegger, Stefan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s).

PY - 2022/6/1

Y1 - 2022/6/1

N2 - Sustainability is a key societal challenge and has become an opportunity for innovation. While start-ups are prone to enter such new territories, established companies are more hesitant to leave current trajectories and embrace uncertainty linked to sustainability-oriented exploration. We present a case of a conventional high-tech firm of an owner-manager whose strong values of universalism led him to initialise a sustainability-oriented diversification by exploring renewable energy technologies. Our longitudinal study uncovers how changes in ambidextrous organisational design and represented managerial values ultimately resulted in failed exploration. Our contribution is threefold: First, we link individual-level managerial values of universalism with organisational-level phenomena of sustainability-oriented exploration and diversification. Second, we contribute to bridging hitherto mostly separate bodies of literature on sustainability-oriented innovation and ambidexterity to better understand how conventional firms can deploy their technological capabilities for sustainability. Third, we conceptualise the "separation drift"as fading organisational separation resulting in exploration failure.

AB - Sustainability is a key societal challenge and has become an opportunity for innovation. While start-ups are prone to enter such new territories, established companies are more hesitant to leave current trajectories and embrace uncertainty linked to sustainability-oriented exploration. We present a case of a conventional high-tech firm of an owner-manager whose strong values of universalism led him to initialise a sustainability-oriented diversification by exploring renewable energy technologies. Our longitudinal study uncovers how changes in ambidextrous organisational design and represented managerial values ultimately resulted in failed exploration. Our contribution is threefold: First, we link individual-level managerial values of universalism with organisational-level phenomena of sustainability-oriented exploration and diversification. Second, we contribute to bridging hitherto mostly separate bodies of literature on sustainability-oriented innovation and ambidexterity to better understand how conventional firms can deploy their technological capabilities for sustainability. Third, we conceptualise the "separation drift"as fading organisational separation resulting in exploration failure.

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

KW - Sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI)

KW - radical innovation

KW - managerial values

KW - ambidextrous organisational design

KW - modes of balance

KW - exploration and exploitation

KW - diversification strategy

KW - renewable energy technologies

KW - green technologies

KW - Small and medium sized enterprises

KW - ambidextrous organisational design

KW - diversification strategy

KW - exploration and exploitation

KW - green technologies

KW - managerial values

KW - modes of balance

KW - radical innovation

KW - renewable energy technologies

KW - small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

KW - Sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI)

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133515777&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/0a0c106b-6f7d-3f29-ab42-60a60c4e00b1/

U2 - 10.1142/S1363919622400047

DO - 10.1142/S1363919622400047

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 26

JO - International Journal of Innovation Management

JF - International Journal of Innovation Management

SN - 1363-9196

IS - 5

M1 - 2240004

ER -