The relationships between the internationalization of alliance portfolio diversity, individual incentives, and innovation ambidexterity: A microfoundational approach

The present paper seeks to unveil the influence of the decision to ally with partners of diverse types and from different geographical locations (i.e., the internationalization of alliance portfolio diversity) on the ability of firms to balance radical and incremental innovation efforts (i.e., innovation ambidexterity). We address this goal by embracing the microfoundational approach since we recognize that, eventually, the ability/willingness of a firm's employees allow leveraging the opportunities of strategic alliances. With this in mind, it is also scrutinized the contingent effects of the adoption of motivation-enhancing human resource management (HRM) practices, as individual incentives (financial and non-financial), on the relationship between the internationalization of alliance portfolio diversity and innovation ambidexterity. Results reveal that the internationalization of alliance portfolio diversity has an inverted U-shaped effect on innovation ambidexterity and that the adoption of financial incentives positively moderates (threshold shift) this effect. Instead, no conclusive results may be provided concerning the moderating effect of the adoption of non-financial incentives.