The ambidextrous negotiator: negotiation behavior and individual negotiation outcome

The concept of organizational ambidexterity is established in many research fields. It describes the ability of organizations to simultaneously exploit current capabilities and explore new opportunities in order to achieve long-term success. Ambidexterity on the individual level has received less attention. Only recently have studies demonstrated that individual ambidexterity can lead to a better individual performance and is therefore beneficial to the overall organizational performance. However, the fact that individuals can manage the duality of the two dimensions is challenged, and therefore the concept’s transferability from the organizational to the individual context requires further clarification. We investigate if, similar to improved organizational performance via ambidexterity, an “ambidextrous negotiator” achieves better negotiation outcomes than a rather explorative or exploitative type. The results of the analysis of the chat protocols of a negotiation experiment with 360 participants increase our understanding about whether ambidexterity is a critical ability in negotiations and the effect of individual ambidexterity on the individual performance in general.