Entrepreneurial Orientation Impact on the Innovation Ambidexterity: Evidence from the Industrial-Based Sector

Entrepreneurship, in many low-developed economies, plays an important role in defeating external distress. It is crucial in such situation that entrepreneurial firms resist and even grow. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurial orientation brings about organisational ambidexterity through the mediation role of intellectual capital in the context of a developing country. This paper reports research results combining a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The exploratory study is based on qualitative case studies and in-depth interview data collected from 15 Tunisian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial sector. Then, the methodology included a survey of 155 SMEs using a questionnaire and structural equation modelling analyses. The results reveal that SMEs leverage internal and external resources to pursue ambidexterity separately or simultaneously. The data were gathered from a sole informant from every firm. Consequently, more in-depth longitudinal study may be requisite to expand deeper insights into the used variables. SME managers need to focus on the specific barriers to ambidexterity and design effective mechanisms to advance the drivers of ambidexterity. The mechanisms to realize ambidexterity as branded in this study will assist SMEs in particular, and firms in general. A new shape of organisation is an open design allowing more outer acquaintance and resources to be riveted, which is claimed as a novel model for organisation. This study combined the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation and intellectual capital as the basis of innovation ambidexterity. Human, organisational and relational capitals are the intermediate mechanisms to explain the effect of entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, the Tunisian specific context adds more novelty to this study.