Towards ‘Open’ IS Managers: An Exploration of Individual-Level Connectedness, Ambidexterity, and Performance Richard Vidgen Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales r.vidgen@unsw.edu.au Phillip Allen Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales p.allen@unsw.edu.au Patrick Finnegan Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales p.finnegan@unsw.edu.au Abstract This paper examines the individual IS manager’s ability to exploit current IT capabilities and explore new technology innovations. It extends the concept of ambidexterity, which is often studied at the firm or business unit level, to the individual level, and draws from open innovation theory to examine how the ability of an individual IS manager to explore and exploit is associated with their degree of external and internal connectedness. The research model is tested through a survey of 67 IS managers from a large financial services company. The results show that external connectedness is strongly and positively associated with an IS manager’s ability to innovate while internal connectedness is negatively associated with exploration. In addition, the degree to which individual IS managers simultaneously engage in exploration and exploitation (i.e. ambidexterity) is found to be positively associated with individual performance. 1. Introduction The recognition of the organization as an organism [cf. 33], emphasizes the relationship between an organization and its environment, and suggests that external factors rather than internal organizational, technological or managerial variables are the keys to explaining organizational success [26] [12]. External connections have become even more strategically important with the adoption of open innovation strategies as organizations strive to leverage external sources of knowledge and innovation capacity [7, 4]. The impact of open innovation on information systems functions and activities is most evident in the exploitation of open source software [7]. However, open innovation strategies and processes are also changing innovation in computer hardware [18] and business strategies for software firms [9]. In order to deploy open innovation processes there is a need for organizations to adopt business models [8] that utilize “both external and internal ideas to create value, while defining internal mechanisms to claim some portion of that value” [ [7], p. xxiv]. Research on operationalising open innovation processes has revealed the importance of business networks [56] [51] [52] and the human and social capital of employees in leveraging such networks [13]. This paper examines how the degree to which individual IS managers are connected internally and externally affects their ability to simultaneously exploit current capabilities and explore new innovations. We draw on extant research on ambidexterity and open innovation (section 2) to derive a research model that examines ambidexterity at an individual level, and test it using a survey of IS managers in a large organization (section 4). The results are discussed in section 5. 2. Theoretical grounding 2.1. The role of the IS manager The organizational environment of the IS manager is typically turbulent and involves dealing with the impacts of external environmental changes, changing internal customer needs, and rapidly changing technology [35, 36]. The constantly changing technology environment also affects the expectations placed on the IS manager, specifically the ‘expectations gap’ between what is possible and the organizational satisfaction with delivery [22]. IS managers face an environment where “senior executives grow weary of IT’s unfulfilled promises to create competitive advantage, enable business transformation, drive down costs, and improve customer service” [21, p. 8]. Much academic and practitioner literature focuses on the need for delivering value and the alignment of current investments in technology with the business Proceedings of the 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2011 1 1530-1605 2011 U.S. Government Work Not Protected by U.S. Copyright