Firm’s exploration-exploitation capabilities. Do diversity and empowerment matter?

Purpose This paper aims to explore the effect of gender diversity and female empowerment on a firm’s exploration and exploitation capabilities. Design/methodology/approach This is an empirical paper. This study investigated the research question in this paper using data on UK Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 firms and OLS regression analysis. Findings This study found a positive association between senior management gender diversity in the workforce and exploitation and exploration capabilities. Also, female empowerment positively moderates senior management gender diversity’s impact on exploration capability. Practical implications This study advises firms aspiring ambidextrous to establish gender diversity – especially at the senior management level – and focus on female empowerment in their organisations. Originality/value This paper argued for the role of females in making the organisations ambidextrous by impacting both exploitation and exploration capabilities, which did not receive adequate research attention to date.