Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
10-2008
Abstract
Because a firm’s optimal knowledge search behavior is determined by unique firm and industry conditions, organizational performance should be contingent on the degree to which a firm’s actual level of knowledge search deviates from the optimal level. It is thus hypothesized that deviation from the optimal search, in the form of either overexploitation or overexploration, is detrimental to organizational performance. Furthermore, the negative effect of search deviation on organizational performance varies with environmental dynamism; that is, overexploitation is expected to become more harmful, whereas overexploration becomes less so with an increase in environmental dynamism. The empirical analyses yield results consistent with these arguments. Implications for research and practice are correspondingly discussed.
Keywords
overexploitation/overexploration, consistency in search, environmental dynamism, organizational performance
Discipline
Organizational Behavior and Theory | Strategic Management Policy
Research Areas
Strategy and Organisation
Publication
Journal of Management
Volume
34
Issue
5
First Page
925
Last Page
951
ISSN
0149-2063
Identifier
10.1177/0149206308321547
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
WANG, Heli and LI, Jiatao.
Untangling the effects of overexploration and overexploitation on organizational performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism. (2008). Journal of Management. 34, (5), 925-951.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3450
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308321547