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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of team psychological capital (PsyCap) on team innovation. The study also examines the mediating role of team learning, including exploratory and exploitative learning, in team innovation.

A sample of 272 team leaders of firms in Vietnam was surveyed to validate the measures via confirmatory factor analysis and to test the model and hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

The results demonstrate that team PsyCap has a positive effect on team innovation. Further, team exploratory learning mediates the relationship between team PsyCap and team innovation; however, team exploitative learning does not. Although team exploitative learning is explained by team PsyCap, it does not enhance team innovation.

The study findings suggest that, to enjoy a high level of team exploratory and exploitative learning and innovation, firms should develop team PsyCap. This could be undertaken by implementing leader–subordinate mentoring programs, together with creating a social context that helps in interacting and communicating among team members.

This study is among the first to examine the role of team PsyCap in team exploratory and exploitative learning and innovation, adding further insight to the literature on innovation at the team level.

The study aims to provide suggestions for project-based firms (PBFs) to create value through the development of social capital, collaborative environment and organisational learning (exploratory & exploitative learning). In this regard, a conceptual model is proposed that examines the interrelations between social capital, collaborative environment and exploratory & exploitative learning in the context of PBFs.

A semi-systematic literature review focussed on interrelations between social capital, exploratory & exploitative learning and collaborative environment was undertaken. Top ranked journals and highly relevant journal articles in the management domain were considered for the review. To analyse literature, the content analysis technique incorporating NVIVO 12 software was adopted.

Conceptual model suggests that social capital positively affects exploratory & exploitative learning through collaborative environment in PBFs. Three dimensions of social capital (network ties, trust and shared goals) create collaborative environment and collaborative environment enhances organisational learning in PBFs across different levels. Ultimately, social capital, collaborative environment and exploratory & exploitative learning contribute to value creation in PBFs.

Although the relationship between social capital and exploratory & exploitative learning has been researched previously, findings remain inconsistent. This study provides an alternative perspective to discuss this relationship with the proposed mediating construct: collaborative environment. Considering the context of PBFs, a conceptual model was developed to explain the interrelations between social capital, collaborative environment and learning. This study especially discusses collaborative environment as a value creation factor.

The purpose of this paper is to further understand the joint effect of project‐level exploratory and exploitative learning in new product development. It aims to examine the complicated relationships among exploratory learning, exploitative learning and new product performance at a single project level. In addition, it seeks to shed light on the contextual effects of a firm's market orientation on the relationship between joint occurrence of both learning activities and new product development performance.

The paper is based on a questionnaire survey/analysis of a sample of 298 projects from high‐tech firms in Taiwan.

The findings suggest that the joint occurrence of both learning activities has a positive effect on new product performance and depends upon a high level of one learning activity coupled with a small dose of the other. Drawing on cultural and behavioral perspectives of market orientation, the results also indicate that market orientation may enhance the joint effect of both learning activities on new product performance.

This paper offers insight to project managers with regard to the importance of rationally mixing with exploratory and exploitative learning during new product development. Furthermore, the study argues that market orientation is an alternative of organizational design that fosters the positive joint effect of both learning behaviors.

The results empirically support the theoretical argument that a high‐low matching of exploratory and exploitative learning can enhance performance at the level of a single project. The study provides a multiple‐level framework to understand how the firm‐level MO strengthens the positive effects of joint occurrence of project‐level exploratory and exploitative learning activities during new product development.

Based on the team conflict theory and organizational learning theory, this study aims to discuss the two different types of conflicts of the top management team (TMT) on the different mechanisms of exploratory learning behavior of firms, and, based on the perspective of CEO-TMT (CEO – chief executive officer) interface, the different moderating effects caused by different CEO leadership styles are clarified.

Using the sample of 193 firms’ samples with multi-source data, the authors take an empirical test of the theoretical framework.

The effect of task conflict on exploratory learning behavior was insignificant, and relationship conflict had a positive effect on exploratory learning behavior. However, when CEO’s transformational leadership level was high, or transactional leadership level was low, there existed “bathtub curve” relationship between task conflict and exploratory learning behavior, and the relationship conflict under these conditions strengthened exploratory learning behavior. When CEO’s transactional leadership level was high, or transformational leadership level was low, there existed the inverted U-shaped relationship between task conflict and exploratory learning behavior, and the relationship conflict under such conditions weakened exploratory learning behavior.

First, the authors challenge the assumption of linear mechanism of task conflict, trying to build the mechanism of curve hypothesis, and the nonlinear explanation might be able to integrate the inconsistent results in the existing literature. Second, according to the inconsistent results of relationship conflict in existing literature, this study takes perspective of the CEO-TMT and introduces CEO leadership behavior as a moderating variable to test the moderating effect of CEO leadership and clarifies the boundary conditions of TMT conflicts.

In the context of virtual brand communities (VBCs), based on self-determination theory and organizational binary learning (OBL) theory, this study investigates the direct and indirect effects of various dimensions of consumer participation (CP) on firm innovation performance (FIP) and the mediating role of OBL. By introducing the perspective of knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC), this study examines the moderating effect of KAC on the relationship between OBL and TIP.

In this study, 751 samples are collected from Chinese firms, and stratified adjusted regression analysis is used to conduct empirical tests.

Information provision or co-creation directly affects FIP; the latter is more significant than the former, while social interaction does not directly affect FIP. Exploitative or exploratory learning plays a mediating role in the relationship between information provision or co-creation and FIP. In contrast, exploratory learning plays a mediating role in the relationship between social interaction and FIP. KAC has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between exploitative learning or exploratory learning and FIP. When the firm has a low KAC, the improvement of FIP through exploratory learning is slight.

In VBCs, this study tries to divide the dimensions of CP. It also clarifies the mediating effect of OBL on CP and FIP. In addition, it explores the moderating effect of KAC on OBL and FIP. The conclusions of this study provide theoretical support and practical inspiration for firms to use VBCs to improve FIP.

SMEs could achieve their innovation goals, either through exploitation, exploratory, or ambidextrous learning strategies. This study presents ambidexterity as a more effective and efficient strategy that offers superior innovation advantage to SMEs. We also present the role of openness in this relationship.

Empirical analysis was based on 388 SMEs in Ghana. Various validity and reliability checks were conducted before the presentation of the actual analysis, which was conducted using Ordinary Least Squares approach, run using SPSS (v. 20).

Findings indicate that although exploitative and exploratory learning strategies individually had a positive significant effect on SMEs' innovation performance, organizational learning ambidexterity was found to have a greater positive impact on innovation performance among SMEs. High levels of openness further boosted the effect of organizational learning ambidexterity on SMEs’ innovation performance.

This study was conducted without recourse to some specific factors that could influence organizational learning ambidexterity among SMEs. Future studies should thus pay particular attention to the determinants of organizational learning ambidexterity among SMEs.

Innovation performance is very critical for the sustainability of firms, and SMEs in particular. Management of SMEs must therefore seek to simultaneously adopt both learning strategies, as that gives firms greater advantage, compared to the adoption of only one strategy.

The study demonstrates that organizational learning ambidexterity had a superior effect on SMEs' innovation performance. High levels of openness further boosted the effect of organizational learning ambidexterity on SMEs' innovation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more robust understanding of how to deploy multiunit organizations’ dynamic capabilities (DCs) by examining the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning.

This study uses 315 multiunit samples and structural equation modeling to determine the relationships among the variables.

The analysis reveals that, while embedded structural social capital exerts a positive influence on exploratory knowledge learning in multiunit organizations, embedded relational social capital exerts a positive influence on knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning. Knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning also positively influences DC deployment in multiunit organizations.

Few DCs studies have empirically examined the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning in multiunit organizations. The results of this study address the failure of past theoretical perspectives on DCs to fully specify and verify the links between the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning.

This paper offers one practical trajectory for DC deployment in modern multiunit organizations and offers two contributions to the theoretical perspectives on DCs. First, it identifies the critical role of embedded social capital in enabling knowledge archetype learning and DC deployment, which had never been fully specified or verified in the DCs literature. Second, it identifies the importance of DCs’ deployment trajectory in multiunit organizations’ routine processes.

This study aims to examine the effects of international competitive strategies, i.e. cost leadership and differentiation, on export (market share and strategic) performance. This study further explores the roles of exploitative and exploratory organizational learning in the relationships between international competitive strategies and export performances. To fill research gaps, this study intends to provide guidance on how varied exploitative/exploratory organizational learning and cost leadership/differentiation strategy combinations would affect export performance. The outcomes of this study provide a new match and mis-match conceptualization to extant international competitive strategy and organizational learning literature.

This study selected New Zealand (NZ) exporting as the research setting because exporting plays such a vital role in NZ’s economy and NZ exporting firms have long been highly competitive in international markets (e.g. meat and dairy exporters), with the primary data collected through surveys conducted in 2010 and 2013. This study adopted a three-year lagged performance approach.

Cost leadership strategy has a positive effect on market share performance. This effect is enhanced by exploitative learning but dampened by exploratory learning. Cost leadership also has a positive effect on strategic performance, which is not affected by exploitative and exploratory learning. Differentiation strategy bears no relation to market share and strategic performance, even allowing for exploitative and exploratory learning. Collectively, the contingent role of organizational learning in the international competitive strategies and export performance framework is far more comprehensive than was expected.

This study reveals that a match between cost leadership strategy and exploitative learning may result in a superior market share. The configuration of differentiation strategy and exploitative learning and the integration of cost leadership strategy and exploratory learning are suggested as mis-matches, as these combinations would not lead to any significant and positive market share and strategic performance. Unexpectedly, the co-alliance of differentiation strategy and explorative learning is not suggested as a match, as it does not result in a superior market share and strategic performance. This latter outcome suggests that the differentiation strategy-export performance link may be stimulated by other moderating factors (e.g. business managerial ties).

While choosing an appropriate international competitive strategy, managers may use cost leadership over differentiation strategy to achieve successful export performance in both the market share and strategic perspectives. Export managers focusing on cost leadership strategy may further implement exploitative learning instead of explorative learning, when market share is vital. Meanwhile, they may note that explorative learning may not have a moderating effect on enhancing strategic performance through cost leadership. These points signify that exploitation of existing knowledge may be more effective than exploration of new knowledge for market share expansion when cost leadership strategy is devoted to exporting activities. Differentiation strategy, however, does not influence market share and strategic performance in exporting, even with an alignment of exploitative/exploratory learning. Managers are urged to pay attention to the mis-match of differentiation strategy and organizational learning when market share and strategic performance are the priorities in export performance evaluation.

This study contributes to the organizational learning literature by providing a new match and mis-match conceptualization relating to international competitive strategy and export performance. The new framework provides directions on when firms should use organizational learning to enhance their competitive strategies (a match scenario) and when they should not use it (a mis-match scenario). This study broadens the existing research that has mainly focused on alignment combinations such as organizational learning-internationalization strategy and organizational learning-social network.

The aim of this paper is to consider how exploitative and exploratory team processes contribute to adaptive and innovative outcomes. The paper integrates the team learning and team adaptation literature and examines factors that stimulate and support exploitative and exploratory processes in interdisciplinary and homogeneous teams. This has implications for team learning research and facilitation that fosters adaptation and innovation.

The paper reviews how teams learn to be exploitative and exploratory and the extent to which adaptive and innovative outcomes ensue. The paper suggests the value of teams understanding how different conditions (environment, leadership, member characteristics, and team composition) affect team members' interactions as they learn and apply exploitative and exploratory processes to produce adaptive and/or innovative outcomes.

Teams learn frames of reference for being exploitative and exploratory influenced by environmental conditions, leadership, particularly leadership that creates psychological safety, and team member characteristics and team. Interdisciplinary team composition and resulting possible subgroup formation pose challenges for exploitative and exploratory teams.

Future research should study teams over time to observe subgroup formation and integration, and facilitation by leaders, team members, and group dynamics professionals to support exploratory and exploitative frames and the emergence of adaptations and innovations.

Teams may be more successful in implementing innovations when they have learned how to weave between exploratory and exploitative frames of behavior.

The paper applies exploitative and exploratory processes to teams to increase their capacity to produce adaptive and innovative outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between ambidextrous organizational learning and performance among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capability approach, this paper uses the resource-capability-performance framework to construct the theoretical model of this study and tests the theoretical model with the questionnaire survey data of 189 SMEs in mainland China.

Ambidextrous organizational learning has different effects on SMEs' performance in terms of survival performance and growth performance. Both exploitative learning and exploratory learning have positive effects on absorptive capacity, and absorptive capacity has positive influences on both the survival performance and growth performance of SMEs. Absorptive capacity plays different mediating roles in the relationships between ambidextrous organizational learning and SMEs' performance: absorptive capacity plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between exploratory learning and SME growth performance, while absorptive capacity plays complete mediating roles in other relationships.

Managers must stress the use of exploratory learning in order to promote SMEs' growth performance. However, to foster both absorptive capacity and SME performance in terms of survival and growth, managers must pay more attention to take advantage of ambidextrous organizational learning. Government as policymakers should create a favorable environment that enable SMEs to benefit much more from the deployment of ambidextrous organizational learning and absorptive capacity.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to theorize and test the mediating role of absorptive capacity in the linkage between ambidextrous organizational learning and SME performance in terms of survival and growth. Additionally, this study also is the first to provide empirical support for the impact of ambidextrous organizational learning on absorptive capacity among SMEs.