IT-enabled Knowledge Ambidexterity and Innovation Performance: The Role of Social Media Capability

This study examines the impact of information technology (IT) infrastructure on knowledge ambidexterity and innovation performance, and the potential amplifier role of social media capability on this equation. The proposed theory is tested using the structural equation modeling technique and the partial least squares method of estimation employing a secondary dataset on a sample composed of the 100 small U.S. firms included in the 2013 Forbes America’s Best Small Companies ranking. The empirical analysis suggests that IT infrastructure enables the firm to explore new knowledge and exploit existing/new knowledge to innovate more and better. We also find that social media capability has an amplifier role on this equation as follows: (1) IT infrastructure and social media capabilities dance together to enable knowledge ambidexterity, and (2) knowledge ambidexterity and social media capabilities also dance together to pursue innovation-based competitiveness.